In the case of this, as of our other moral sentiments, there is no necessary connexion between the question of its origin, and that of its binding6 force. That a feeling is bestowed7 on us by Nature, does not necessarily legitimate8 all its promptings. The feeling of justice might be a peculiar9 instinct, and might yet require, like our other instincts, to be controlled and enlightened by a higher reason. If we have intellectual instincts, leading us to judge in a particular way, as well as animal instincts that prompt us to act in a particular way, there is no necessity that the former should be more infallible in their sphere than the latter in theirs: it may as well happen that wrong judgments10 are occasionally suggested by those, as wrong actions by these. But though it is one thing to believe that we have natural feelings of justice, and another to acknowledge them as an ultimate criterion of conduct, these two opinions are very closely connected in point of fact. Mankind are always predisposed to believe that any subjective12 feeling, not otherwise accounted for, is a revelation of some objective reality. Our present object is to determine whether the reality, to which the feeling of justice corresponds, is one which needs any such special revelation; whether the justice or injustice14 of an action is a thing intrinsically peculiar, and distinct from all its other qualities, or only a combination of certain of those qualities, presented under a peculiar aspect. For the purpose of this inquiry15, it is practically important to consider whether the feeling itself, of justice and injustice, is sui generis like our sensations of colour and taste, or a derivative16 feeling, formed by a combination of others. And this it is the more essential to examine, as people are in general willing enough to allow, that objectively the dictates17 of justice coincide with a part of the field of General Expediency19; but inasmuch as the subjective mental feeling of Justice is different from that which commonly attaches to simple expediency, and, except in extreme cases of the latter, is far more imperative20 in its demands, people find it difficult to see, in Justice, only a particular kind or branch of general utility, and think that its superior binding force requires a totally different origin.
To throw light upon this question, it is necessary to attempt to ascertain21 what is the distinguishing character of justice, or of injustice: what is the quality, or whether there is any quality, attributed in common to all modes of conduct designated as unjust (for justice, like many other moral attributes, is best defined by its opposite), and distinguishing them from such modes of conduct as are disapproved22, but without having that particular epithet23 of disapprobation applied24 to them. If, in everything which men are accustomed to characterize as just or unjust, some one common attribute or collection of attributes is always present, we may judge whether this particular attribute or combination of attributes would be capable of gathering25 round it a sentiment of that peculiar character and intensity26 by virtue27 of the general laws of our emotional constitution, or whether the sentiment is inexplicable28, and requires to be regarded as a special provision of Nature. If we find the former to be the case, we shall, in resolving this question, have resolved also the main problem: if the latter, we shall have to seek for some other mode of investigating it.
To find the common attributes of a variety of objects, it is necessary to begin, by surveying the objects themselves in the concrete. Let us therefore advert29 successively to the various modes of action, and arrangements of human affairs, which are classed, by universal or widely spread opinion, as Just or as Unjust. The things well known to excite the sentiments associated with those names, are of a very multifarious character. I shall pass them rapidly in review, without studying any particular arrangement.
In the first place, it is mostly considered unjust to deprive any one of his personal liberty, his property, or any other thing which belongs to him by law. Here, therefore, is one instance of the application of the terms just and unjust in a perfectly30 definite sense, namely, that it is just to respect, unjust to violate, the legal rights of any one. But this judgment11 admits of several exceptions, arising from the other forms in which the notions of justice and injustice present themselves. For example, the person who suffers the deprivation31 may (as the phrase is) have forfeited32 the rights which he is so deprived of: a case to which we shall return presently. But also,
Secondly33; the legal rights of which he is deprived, may be rights which ought not to have belonged to him; in other words, the law which confers on him these rights, may be a bad law. When it is so, or when (which is the same thing for our purpose) it is supposed to be so, opinions will differ as to the justice or injustice of infringing34 it. Some maintain that no law, however bad, ought to be disobeyed by an individual citizen; that his opposition35 to it, if shown at all, should only be shown in endeavouring to get it altered by competent authority. This opinion (which condemns37 many of the most illustrious benefactors38 of mankind, and would often protect pernicious institutions against the only weapons which, in the state of things existing at the time, have any chance of succeeding against them) is defended, by those who hold it, on grounds of expediency; principally on that of the importance, to the common interest of mankind, of maintaining inviolate39 the sentiment of submission40 to law. Other persons, again, hold the directly contrary opinion, that any law, judged to be bad, may blamelessly be disobeyed, even though it be not judged to be unjust, but only inexpedient; while others would confine the licence of disobedience to the case of unjust laws: but again, some say, that all laws which are inexpedient are unjust; since every law imposes some restriction42 on the natural liberty of mankind, which restriction is an injustice, unless legitimated43 by tending to their good. Among these diversities of opinion, it seems to be universally admitted that there may be unjust laws, and that law, consequently, is not the ultimate criterion of justice, but may give to one person a benefit, or impose on another an evil, which justice condemns. When, however, a law is thought to be unjust, it seems always to be regarded as being so in the same way in which a breach44 of law is unjust, namely, by infringing somebody's right; which, as it cannot in this case be a legal right, receives a different appellation45, and is called a moral right. We may say, therefore, that a second case of injustice consists in taking or withholding46 from any person that to which he has a moral right.
Thirdly, it is universally considered just that each person should obtain that (whether good or evil) which he deserves; and unjust that he should obtain a good, or be made to undergo an evil, which he does not deserve. This is, perhaps, the clearest and most emphatic47 form in which the idea of justice is conceived by the general mind. As it involves the notion of desert, the question arises, what constitutes desert? Speaking in a general way, a person is understood to deserve good if he does right, evil if he does wrong; and in a more particular sense, to deserve good from those to whom he does or has done good, and evil from those to whom he does or has done evil. The precept48 of returning good for evil has never been regarded as a case of the fulfilment of justice, but as one in which the claims of justice are waived49, in obedience41 to other considerations.
Fourthly, it is confessedly unjust to break faith with any one: to violate an engagement, either express or implied, or disappoint expectations raised by our own conduct, at least if we have raised those expectations knowingly and voluntarily. Like the other obligations of justice already spoken of, this one is not regarded as absolute, but as capable of being overruled by a stronger obligation of justice on the other side; or by such conduct on the part of the person concerned as is deemed to absolve50 us from our obligation to him, and to constitute a forfeiture51 of the benefit which he has been led to expect.
Fifthly, it is, by universal admission, inconsistent with justice to be partial; to show favour or preference to one person over another, in matters to which favour and preference do not properly apply. Impartiality53, however, does not seem to be regarded as a duty in itself, but rather as instrumental to some other duty; for it is admitted that favour and preference are not always censurable54, and indeed the cases in which they are condemned55 are rather the exception than the rule. A person would be more likely to be blamed than applauded for giving his family or friends no superiority in good offices over strangers, when he could do so without violating any other duty; and no one thinks it unjust to seek one person in preference to another as a friend, connexion, or companion. Impartiality where rights are concerned is of course obligatory56, but this is involved in the more general obligation of giving to every one his right. A tribunal, for example, must be impartial52, because it is bound to award, without regard to any other consideration, a disputed object to the one of two parties who has the right to it. There are other cases in which impartiality means, being solely57 influenced by desert; as with those who, in the capacity of judges, preceptors, or parents, administer reward and punishment as such. There are cases, again, in which it means, being solely influenced by consideration for the public interest; as in making a selection among candidates for a Government employment. Impartiality, in short, as an obligation of justice, may be said to mean, being exclusively influenced by the considerations which it is supposed ought to influence the particular case in hand; and resisting the solicitation58 of any motives59 which prompt to conduct different from what those considerations would dictate18.
Nearly allied60 to the idea of impartiality, is that of equality; which often enters as a component61 part both into the conception of justice and into the practice of it, and, in the eyes of many persons, constitutes its essence. But in this, still more than in any other case, the notion of justice varies in different persons, and always conforms in its variations to their notion of utility. Each person maintains that equality is the dictate of justice, except where he thinks that expediency requires inequality. The justice of giving equal protection to the rights of all, is maintained by those who support the most outrageous62 inequality in the rights themselves. Even in slave countries it is theoretically admitted that the rights of the slave, such as they are, ought to be as sacred as those of the master; and that a tribunal which fails to enforce them with equal strictness is wanting in justice; while, at the same time, institutions which leave to the slave scarcely any rights to enforce, are not deemed unjust, because they are not deemed inexpedient. Those who think that utility requires distinctions of rank, do not consider it unjust that riches and social privileges should be unequally dispensed63; but those who think this inequality inexpedient, think it unjust also. Whoever thinks that government is necessary, sees no injustice in as much inequality as is constituted by giving to the magistrate64 powers not granted to other people. Even among those who hold levelling doctrines65, there are as many questions of justice as there are differences of opinion about expediency. Some Communists consider it unjust that the produce of the labour of the community should be shared on any other principle than that of exact equality; others think it just that those should receive most whose needs are greatest; while others hold that those who work harder, or who produce more, or whose services are more valuable to the community, may justly claim a larger quota66 in the division of the produce. And the sense of natural justice may be plausibly67 appealed to in behalf of every one of these opinions.
Among so many diverse applications of the term Justice, which yet is not regarded as ambiguous, it is a matter of some difficulty to seize the mental link which holds them together, and on which the moral sentiment adhering to the term essentially68 depends. Perhaps, in this embarrassment69, some help may be derived70 from the history of the word, as indicated by its etymology71.
In most, if not in all languages, the etymology of the word which corresponds to Just, points to an origin connected either with positive law, or with that which was in most cases the primitive72 form of law-authoritative custom. Justum is a form of jussum, that which has been ordered. Jus is of the same origin. Dichanou comes from dichae, of which the principal meaning, at least in the historical ages of Greece, was a suit at law. Originally, indeed, it meant only the mode or manner of doing things, but it early came to mean the prescribed manner; that which the recognized authorities, patriarchal, judicial73, or political, would enforce. Recht, from which came right and righteous, is synonymous with law. The original meaning, indeed, of recht did not point to law, but to physical straightness; as wrong and its Latin equivalents meant twisted or tortuous74; and from this it is argued that right did not originally mean law, but on the contrary law meant right. But however this may be, the fact that recht and droit became restricted in their meaning to positive law, although much which is not required by law is equally necessary to moral straightness or rectitude, is as significant of the original character of moral ideas as if the derivation had been the reverse way. The courts of justice, the administration of justice, are the courts and the administration of law. La justice, in French, is the established term for judicature. There can, I think, be no doubt that the idée mère, the primitive element, in the formation of the notion of justice, was conformity75 to law. It constituted the entire idea among the Hebrews, up to the birth of Christianity; as might be expected in the case of a people whose laws attempted to embrace all subjects on which precepts76 were required, and who believed those laws to be a direct emanation from the Supreme77 Being. But other nations, and in particular the Greeks and Romans, who knew that their laws had been made originally, and still continued to be made, by men, were not afraid to admit that those men might make bad laws; might do, by law, the same things, and from the same motives, which, if done by individuals without the sanction of law, would be called unjust. And hence the sentiment of injustice came to be attached, not to all violations79 of law, but only to violations of such laws as ought to exist, including such as ought to exist but do not; and to laws themselves, if supposed to be contrary to what ought to be law. In this manner the idea of law and of its injunctions was still predominant in the notion of justice, even when the laws actually in force ceased to be accepted as the standard of it.
It is true that mankind consider the idea of justice and its obligations as applicable to many things which neither are, nor is it desired that they should be, regulated by law. Nobody desires that laws should interfere80 with the whole detail of private life; yet every one allows that in all daily conduct a person may and does show himself to be either just or unjust. But even here, the idea of the breach of what ought to be law, still lingers in a modified shape. It would always give us pleasure, and chime in with our feelings of fitness, that acts which we deem unjust should be punished, though we do not always think it expedient that this should be done by the tribunals. We forego that gratification on account of incidental inconveniences. We should be glad to see just conduct enforced and injustice repressed, even in the minutest details, if we were not, with reason, afraid of trusting the magistrate with so unlimited81 an amount of power over individuals. When we think that a person is bound in justice to do a thing, it is an ordinary form of language to say, that he ought to be compelled to do it. We should be gratified to see the obligation enforced by anybody who had the power. If we see that its enforcement by law would be inexpedient, we lament82 the impossibility, we consider the impunity83 given to injustice as an evil, and strive to make amends84 for it by bringing a strong expression of our own and the public disapprobation to bear upon the offender85. Thus the idea of legal constraint86 is still the generating idea of the notion of justice, though undergoing several transformations87 before that notion, as it exists in an advanced state of society, becomes complete.
The above is, I think, a true account, as far as it goes, of the origin and progressive growth of the idea of justice. But we must observe, that it contains, as yet, nothing to distinguish that obligation from moral obligation in general. For the truth is, that the idea of penal88 sanction, which is the essence of law, enters not only into the conception of injustice, but into that of any kind of wrong. We do not call anything wrong, unless we mean to imply that a person ought to be punished in some way or other for doing it; if not by law, by the opinion of his fellow creatures; if not by opinion, by the reproaches of his own conscience. This seems the real turning point of the distinction between morality and simple expediency. It is a part of the notion of Duty in every one of its forms, that a person may rightfully be compelled to fulfil it. Duty is a thing which may be exacted from a person, as one exacts a debt. Unless we think that it might be exacted from him, we do not call it his duty. Reasons of prudence89, or the interest of other people, may militate against actually exacting90 it; but the person himself, it is clearly understood, would not be entitled to complain. There are other things, on the contrary, which we wish that people should do, which we like or admire them for doing, perhaps dislike or despise them for not doing, but yet admit that they are not bound to do; it is not a case of moral obligation; we do not blame them, that is, we do not think that they are proper objects of punishment. How we come by these ideas of deserving and not deserving punishment, will appear, perhaps, in the sequel; but I think there is no doubt that this distinction lies at the bottom of the notions of right and wrong; that we call any conduct wrong, or employ instead, some other term of dislike or disparagement91, according as we think that the person ought, or ought not, to be punished for it; and we say that it would be right to do so and so, or merely that it would be desirable or laudable, according as we would wish to see the person whom it concerns, compelled or only persuaded and exhorted93, to act in that manner.[C]
This, therefore, being the characteristic difference which marks off, not justice, but morality in general, from the remaining provinces of Expediency and Worthiness94; the character is still to be sought which distinguishes justice from other branches of morality. Now it is known that ethical95 writers divide moral duties into two classes, denoted by the ill-chosen expressions, duties of perfect and of imperfect obligation; the latter being those in which, though the act is obligatory, the particular occasions of performing it are left to our choice; as in the case of charity or beneficence, which we are indeed bound to practise, but not towards any definite person, nor at any prescribed time. In the more precise language of philosophic96 jurists, duties of perfect obligation are those duties in virtue of which a correlative right resides in some person or persons; duties of imperfect obligation are those moral obligations which do not give birth to any right. I think it will be found that this distinction exactly coincides with that which exists between justice and the other obligations of morality. In our survey of the various popular acceptations of justice, the term appeared generally to involve the idea of a personal right—a claim on the part of one or more individuals, like that which the law gives when it confers a proprietary97 or other legal right. Whether the injustice consists in depriving a person of a possession, or in breaking faith with him, or in treating him worse than he deserves, or worse than other people who have no greater claims, in each case the supposition implies two things—a wrong done, and some assignable person who is wronged. Injustice may also be done by treating a person better than others; but the wrong in this case is to his competitors, who are also assignable persons. It seems to me that this feature in the case—a right in some person, correlative to the moral obligation—constitutes the specific difference between justice, and generosity98 or beneficence. Justice implies something which it is not only right to do, and wrong not to do, but which some individual person can claim from us as his moral right. No one has a moral right to our generosity or beneficence, because we are not morally bound to practise those virtues99 towards any given individual. And it will be found, with respect to this as with respect to every correct definition, that the instances which seem to conflict with it are those which most confirm it. For if a moralist attempts, as some have done, to make out that mankind generally, though not any given individual, have a right to all the good we can do them, he at once, by that thesis, includes generosity and beneficence within the category of justice. He is obliged to say, that our utmost exertions101 are due to our fellow creatures, thus assimilating them to a debt; or that nothing less can be a sufficient return for what society does for us, thus classing the case as one of gratitude102; both of which are acknowledged cases of justice. Wherever there is a right, the case is one of justice, and not of the virtue of beneficence: and whoever does not place the distinction between justice and morality in general where we have now placed it, will be found to make no distinction between them at all, but to merge103 all morality in justice.
Having thus endeavoured to determine the distinctive104 elements which enter into the composition of the idea of justice, we are ready to enter on the inquiry, whether the feeling, which accompanies the idea, is attached to it by a special dispensation of nature, or whether it could have grown up, by any known laws, out of the idea itself; and in particular, whether it can have originated in considerations of general expediency.
I conceive that the sentiment itself does not arise from anything which would commonly, or correctly, be termed an idea of expediency; but that, though the sentiment does not, whatever is moral in it does.
We have seen that the two essential ingredients in the sentiment of justice are, the desire to punish a person who has done harm, and the knowledge or belief that there is some definite individual or individuals to whom harm has been done.
Now it appears to me, that the desire to punish a person who has done harm to some individual, is a spontaneous outgrowth from two sentiments, both in the highest degree natural, and which either are or resemble instincts; the impulse of self-defence, and the feeling of sympathy.
It is natural to resent, and to repel105 or retaliate106, any harm done or attempted against ourselves, or against those with whom we sympathize. The origin of this sentiment it is not necessary here to discuss. Whether it be an instinct or a result of intelligence, it is, we know, common to all animal nature; for every animal tries to hurt those who have hurt, or who it thinks are about to hurt, itself or its young. Human beings, on this point, only differ from other animals in two particulars. First, in being capable of sympathizing, not solely with their offspring, or, like some of the more noble animals, with some superior animal who is kind to them, but with all human, and even with all sentient107 beings. Secondly, in having a more developed intelligence, which gives a wider range to the whole of their sentiments, whether self-regarding or sympathetic. By virtue of his superior intelligence, even apart from his superior range of sympathy, a human being is capable of apprehending108 a community of interest between himself and the human society of which he forms a part, such that any conduct which threatens the security of the society generally, is threatening to his own, and calls forth109 his instinct (if instinct it be) of self-defence. The same superiority of intelligence, joined to the power of sympathizing with human beings generally, enables him to attach himself to the collective idea of his tribe, his country, or mankind, in such a manner that any act hurtful to them rouses his instinct of sympathy, and urges him to resistance.
The sentiment of justice, in that one of its elements which consists of the desire to punish, is thus, I conceive, the natural feeling of retaliation110 or vengeance111, rendered by intellect and sympathy applicable to those injuries, that is, to those hurts, which wound us through, or in common with, society at large. This sentiment, in itself, has nothing moral in it; what is moral is, the exclusive subordination of it to the social sympathies, so as to wait on and obey their call. For the natural feeling tends to make us resent indiscriminately whatever any one does that is disagreeable to us; but when moralized by the social feeling, it only acts in the directions conformable to the general good; just persons resenting a hurt to society, though not otherwise a hurt to themselves, and not resenting a hurt to themselves, however painful, unless it be of the kind which society has a common interest with them in the repression112 of.
It is no objection against this doctrine to say, that when we feel our sentiment of justice outraged113, we are not thinking of society at large, or of any collective interest, but only of the individual case. It is common enough certainly, though the reverse of commendable114, to feel resentment115 merely because we have suffered pain; but a person whose resentment is really a moral feeling, that is, who considers whether an act is blameable before he allows himself to resent it—such a person, though he may not say expressly to himself that he is standing116 up for the interest of society, certainly does feel that he is asserting a rule which is for the benefit of others as well as for his own. If he is not feeling this—if he is regarding the act solely as it affects him individually—he is not consciously just; he is not concerning himself about the justice of his actions. This is admitted even by anti-utilitarian117 moralists. When Kant (as before remarked) propounds118 as the fundamental principle of morals, 'So act, that thy rule of conduct might be adopted as a law by all rational beings,' he virtually acknowledges that the interest of mankind collectively, or at least of mankind indiscriminately, must be in the mind of the agent when conscientiously119 deciding on the morality of the act. Otherwise he uses words without a meaning: for, that a rule even of utter selfishness could not possibly be adopted by all rational beings—that there is any insuperable obstacle in the nature of things to its adoption—cannot be even plausibly maintained. To give any meaning to Kant's principle, the sense put upon it must be, that we ought to shape our conduct by a rule which all rational beings might adopt with benefit to their collective interest.
To recapitulate120: the idea of justice supposes two things; a rule of conduct, and a sentiment which sanctions the rule. The first must be supposed common to all mankind, and intended for their good. The other (the sentiment) is a desire that punishment may be suffered by those who infringe121 the rule. There is involved, in addition, the conception of some definite person who suffers by the infringement122; whose rights (to use the expression appropriated to the case) are violated by it. And the sentiment of justice appears to me to be, the animal desire to repel or retaliate a hurt or damage to oneself, or to those with whom one sympathizes, widened so as to include all persons, by the human capacity of enlarged sympathy, and the human conception of intelligent self-interest. From the latter elements, the feeling derives123 its morality; from the former, its peculiar impressiveness, and energy of self-assertion.
I have, throughout, treated the idea of a right residing in the injured person, and violated by the injury, not as a separate element in the composition of the idea and sentiment, but as one of the forms in which the other two elements clothe themselves. These elements are, a hurt to some assignable person or persons on the one hand, and a demand for punishment on the other. An examination of our own minds, I think, will show, that these two things include all that we mean when we speak of violation78 of a right. When we call anything a person's right, we mean that he has a valid124 claim on society to protect him in the possession of it, either by the force of law, or by that of education and opinion. If he has what we consider a sufficient claim, on whatever account, to have something guaranteed to him by society, we say that he has a right to it. If we desire to prove that anything does not belong to him by right, we think this done as soon as it is admitted that society ought not to take measures for securing it to him, but should leave it to chance, or to his own exertions. Thus, a person is said to have a right to what he can earn in fair professional competition; because society ought not to allow any other person to hinder him from endeavouring to earn in that manner as much as he can. But he has not a right to three hundred a-year, though he may happen to be earning it; because society is not called on to provide that he shall earn that sum. On the contrary, if he owns ten thousand pounds three per cent. stock, he has a right to three hundred a-year; because society has come under an obligation to provide him with an income of that amount.
To have a right, then, is, I conceive, to have something which society ought to defend me in the possession of. If the objector goes on to ask why it ought, I can give him no other reason than general utility. If that expression does not seem to convey a sufficient feeling of the strength of the obligation, nor to account for the peculiar energy of the feeling, it is because there goes to the composition of the sentiment, not a rational only but also an animal element, the thirst for retaliation; and this thirst derives its intensity, as well as its moral justification126, from the extraordinarily127 important and impressive kind of utility which is concerned. The interest involved is that of security, to every one's feelings the most vital of all interests. Nearly all other earthly benefits are needed by one person, not needed by another; and many of them can, if necessary, be cheerfully foregone, or replaced by something else; but security no human being can possibly do without; on it we depend for all our immunity128 from evil, and for the whole value of all and every good, beyond the passing moment; since nothing but the gratification of the instant could be of any worth to us, if we could be deprived of everything the next instant by whoever was momentarily stronger than ourselves. Now this most indispensable of all necessaries, after physical nutriment, cannot be had, unless the machinery129 for providing it is kept unintermittedly in active play. Our notion, therefore, of the claim we have on our fellow creatures to join in making safe for us the very groundwork of our existence, gathers feelings round it so much more intense than those concerned in any of the more common cases of utility, that the difference in degree (as is often the case in psychology) becomes a real difference in kind. The claim assumes that character of absoluteness, that apparent infinity130, and incommensurability with all other considerations, which constitute the distinction between the feeling of right and wrong and that of ordinary expediency and inexpediency. The feelings concerned are so powerful, and we count so positively131 on finding a responsive feeling in others (all being alike interested), that ought and should grow into must, and recognized indispensability becomes a moral necessity, analogous132 to physical, and often not inferior to it in binding force.
If the preceding analysis, or something resembling it, be not the correct account of the notion of justice; if justice be totally independent of utility, and be a standard per se, which the mind can recognize by simple introspection of itself; it is hard to understand why that internal oracle133 is so ambiguous, and why so many things appear either just or unjust, according to the light in which they are regarded. We are continually informed that Utility is an uncertain standard, which every different person interprets differently, and that there is no safety but in the immutable134, ineffaceable, and unmistakeable dictates of Justice, which carry their evidence in themselves, and are independent of the fluctuations135 of opinion. One would suppose from this that on questions of justice there could be no controversy136; that if we take that for our rule, its application to any given case could leave us in as little doubt as a mathematical demonstration137. So far is this from being the fact, that there is as much difference of opinion, and as fierce discussion, about what is just, as about what is useful to society. Not only have different nations and individuals different notions of justice, but, in the mind of one and the same individual, justice is not some one rule, principle, or maxim138, but many, which do not always coincide in their dictates, and in choosing between which, he is guided either by some extraneous139 standard, or by his own personal predilections140.
For instance, there are some who say, that it is unjust to punish any one for the sake of example to others; that punishment is just, only when intended for the good of the sufferer himself. Others maintain the extreme reverse, contending that to punish persons who have attained141 years of discretion142, for their own benefit, is despotism and injustice, since if the matter at issue is solely their own good, no one has a right to control their own judgment of it; but that they may justly be punished to prevent evil to others, this being an exercise of the legitimate right of self-defence. Mr. Owen, again, affirms that it is unjust to punish at all; for the criminal did not make his own character; his education, and the circumstances which surround him, have made him a criminal, and for these he is not responsible. All these opinions are extremely plausible143; and so long as the question is argued as one of justice simply, without going down to the principles which lie under justice and are the source of its authority, I am unable to see how any of these reasoners can be refuted. For, in truth, every one of the three builds upon rules of justice confessedly true. The first appeals to the acknowledged injustice of singling out an individual, and making him a sacrifice, without his consent, for other people's benefit. The second relies on the acknowledged justice of self-defence, and the admitted injustice of forcing one person to conform to another's notions of what constitutes his good. The Owenite invokes144 the admitted principle, that it is unjust to punish any one for what he cannot help. Each is triumphant145 so long as he is not compelled to take into consideration any other maxims146 of justice than the one he has selected; but as soon as their several maxims are brought face to face, each disputant seems to have exactly as much to say for himself as the others. No one of them can carry out his own notion of justice without trampling147 upon another equally binding. These are difficulties; they have always been felt to be such; and many devices have been invented to turn rather than to overcome them. As a refuge from the last of the three, men imagined what they called the freedom of the will; fancying that they could not justify148 punishing a man whose will is in a thoroughly149 hateful state, unless it be supposed to have come into that state through no influence of anterior150 circumstances. To escape from the other difficulties, a favourite contrivance has been the fiction of a contract, whereby at some unknown period all the members of society engaged to obey the laws, and consented to be punished for any disobedience to them; thereby151 giving to their legislators the right, which it is assumed they would not otherwise have had, of punishing them, either for their own good or for that of society. This happy thought was considered to get rid of the whole difficulty, and to legitimate the infliction153 of punishment, in virtue of another received maxim of justice, volenti non fit injuria; that is not unjust which is done with the consent of the person who is supposed to be hurt by it. I need hardly remark, that even if the consent were not a mere92 fiction, this maxim is not superior in authority to the others which it is brought in to supersede154. It is, on the contrary, an instructive specimen155 of the loose and irregular manner in which supposed principles of justice grow up. This particular one evidently came into use as a help to the coarse exigencies156 of courts of law, which are sometimes obliged to be content with very uncertain presumptions157, on account of the greater evils which would often arise from any attempt on their part to cut finer. But even courts of law are not able to adhere consistently to the maxim, for they allow voluntary engagements to be set aside on the ground of fraud, and sometimes on that of mere mistake or misinformation.
Again, when the legitimacy158 of inflicting159 punishment is admitted, how many conflicting conceptions of justice come to light in discussing the proper apportionment of punishment to offences. No rule on this subject recommends itself so strongly to the primitive and spontaneous sentiment of justice, as the lex talionis, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Though this principle of the Jewish and of the Mahomedan law has been generally abandoned in Europe as a practical maxim, there is, I suspect, in most minds, a secret hankering after it; and when retribution accidentally falls on an offender in that precise shape, the general feeling of satisfaction evinced, bears witness how natural is the sentiment to which this repayment160 in kind is acceptable. With many the test of justice in penal infliction is that the punishment should be proportioned to the offence; meaning that it should be exactly measured by the moral guilt161 of the culprit (whatever be their standard for measuring moral guilt): the consideration, what amount of punishment is necessary to deter13 from the offence, having nothing to do with the question of justice, in their estimation: while there are others to whom that consideration is all in all; who maintain that it is not just, at least for man, to inflict152 on a fellow creature, whatever may be his offences, any amount of suffering beyond the least that will suffice to prevent him from repeating, and others from imitating, his misconduct.
To take another example from a subject already once referred to. In a co-operative industrial association, is it just or not that talent or skill should give a title to superior remuneration? On the negative side of the question it is argued, that whoever does the best he can, deserves equally well, and ought not in justice to be put in a position of inferiority for no fault of his own; that superior abilities have already advantages more than enough, in the admiration162 they excite, the personal influence they command, and the internal sources of satisfaction attending them, without adding to these a superior share of the world's goods; and that society is bound in justice rather to make compensation to the less favoured, for this unmerited inequality of advantages, than to aggravate163 it. On the contrary side it is contended, that society receives more from the more efficient labourer; that his services being more useful, society owes him a larger return for them; that a greater share of the joint164 result is actually his work, and not to allow his claim to it is a kind of robbery; that if he is only to receive as much as others, he can only be justly required to produce as much, and to give a smaller amount of time and exertion100, proportioned to his superior efficiency. Who shall decide between these appeals to conflicting principles of justice? Justice has in this case two sides to it, which it is impossible to bring into harmony, and the two disputants have chosen opposite sides; the one looks to what it is just that the individual should receive, the other to what it is just that the community should give. Each, from his own point of view, is unanswerable; and any choice between them, on grounds of justice, must be perfectly arbitrary. Social utility alone can decide the preference.
How many, again, and how irreconcileable, are the standards of justice to which reference is made in discussing the repartition of taxation165. One opinion is, that payment to the State should be in numerical proportion to pecuniary166 means. Others think that justice dictates what they term graduated taxation; taking a higher percentage from those who have more to spare. In point of natural justice a strong case might be made for disregarding means altogether, and taking the same absolute sum (whenever it could be got) from every one: as the subscribers to a mess, or to a club, all pay the same sum for the same privileges, whether they can all equally afford it or not. Since the protection (it might be said) of law and government is afforded to, and is equally required by, all, there is no injustice in making all buy it at the same price. It is reckoned justice, not injustice, that a dealer167 should charge to all customers the same price for the same article, not a price varying according to their means of payment. This doctrine, as applied to taxation, finds no advocates, because it conflicts strongly with men's feelings of humanity and perceptions of social expediency; but the principle of justice which it invokes is as true and as binding as those which can be appealed to against it. Accordingly, it exerts a tacit influence on the line of defence employed for other modes of assessing taxation. People feel obliged to argue that the State does more for the rich than for the poor, as a justification for its taking more from them: though this is in reality not true, for the rich would be far better able to protect themselves, in the absence of law or government, than the poor, and indeed would probably be successful in converting the poor into their slaves. Others, again, so far defer168 to the same conception of justice, as to maintain that all should pay an equal capitation tax for the protection of their persons (these being of equal value to all), and an unequal tax for the protection of their property, which is unequal. To this others reply, that the all of one man is as valuable to him as the all of another. From these confusions there is no other mode of extrication169 than the utilitarian.
Is, then, the difference between the Just and the Expedient a merely imaginary distinction? Have mankind been under a delusion170 in thinking that justice is a more sacred thing than policy, and that the latter ought only to be listened to after the former has been satisfied? By no means. The exposition we have given of the nature and origin of the sentiment, recognises a real distinction; and no one of those who profess125 the most sublime171 contempt for the consequences of actions as an element in their morality, attaches more importance to the distinction than I do. While I dispute the pretensions172 of any theory which sets up an imaginary standard of justice not grounded on utility, I account the justice which is grounded on utility to be the chief part, and incomparably the most sacred and binding part, of all morality. Justice is a name for certain classes of moral rules, which concern the essentials of human well-being173 more nearly, and are therefore of more absolute obligation, than any other rules for the guidance of life; and the notion which we have found to be of the essence of the idea of justice, that of a right residing in an individual, implies and testifies to this more binding obligation.
The moral rules which forbid mankind to hurt one another (in which we must never forget to include wrongful interference with each other's freedom) are more vital to human well-being than any maxims, however important, which only point out the best mode of managing some department of human affairs. They have also the peculiarity174, that they are the main element in determining the whole of the social feelings of mankind. It is their observance which alone preserves peace among human beings: if obedience to them were not the rule, and disobedience the exception, every one would see in every one else a probable enemy, against whom he must be perpetually guarding himself. What is hardly less important, these are the precepts which mankind have the strongest and the most direct inducements for impressing upon one another. By merely giving to each other prudential instruction or exhortation175, they may gain, or think they gain, nothing: in inculcating on each other the duty of positive beneficence they have an unmistakeable interest, but far less in degree: a person may possibly not need the benefits of others; but he always needs that they should not do him hurt. Thus the moralities which protect every individual from being harmed by others, either directly or by being hindered in his freedom of pursuing his own good, are at once those which he himself has most at heart, and those which he has the strongest interest in publishing and enforcing by word and deed. It is by a person's observance of these, that his fitness to exist as one of the fellowship of human beings, is tested and decided176; for on that depends his being a nuisance or not to those with whom he is in contact. Now it is these moralities primarily, which compose the obligations of justice. The most marked cases of injustice, and those which give the tone to the feeling of repugnance177 which characterizes the sentiment, are acts of wrongful aggression178, or wrongful exercise of power over some one; the next are those which consist in wrongfully withholding from him something which is his due; in both cases, inflicting on him a positive hurt, either in the form of direct suffering, or of the privation of some good which he had reasonable ground, either of a physical or of a social kind, for counting upon.
The same powerful motives which command the observance of these primary moralities, enjoin179 the punishment of those who violate them; and as the impulses of self-defence, of defence of others, and of vengeance, are all called forth against such persons, retribution, or evil for evil, becomes closely connected with the sentiment of justice, and is universally included in the idea. Good for good is also one of the dictates of justice; and this, though its social utility is evident, and though it carries with it a natural human feeling, has not at first sight that obvious connexion with hurt or injury, which, existing in the most elementary cases of just and unjust, is the source of the characteristic intensity of the sentiment. But the connexion, though less obvious, is not less real. He who accepts benefits, and denies a return of them when needed, inflicts180 a real hurt, by disappointing one of the most natural and reasonable of expectations, and one which he must at least tacitly have encouraged, otherwise the benefits would seldom have been conferred. The important rank, among human evils and wrongs, of the disappointment of expectation, is shown in the fact that it constitutes the principal criminality of two such highly immoral181 acts as a breach of friendship and a breach of promise. Few hurts which human beings can sustain are greater, and none wound more, than when that on which they habitually182 and with full assurance relied, fails them in the hour of need; and few wrongs are greater than this mere withholding of good; none excite more resentment, either in the person suffering, or in a sympathizing spectator. The principle, therefore, of giving to each what they deserve, that is, good for good as well as evil for evil, is not only included within the idea of Justice as we have defined it, but is a proper object of that intensity of sentiment, which places the Just, in human estimation, above the simply Expedient.
Most of the maxims of justice current in the world, and commonly appealed to in its transactions, are simply instrumental to carrying into effect the principles of justice which we have now spoken of. That a person is only responsible for what he has done voluntarily, or could voluntarily have avoided; that it is unjust to condemn36 any person unheard; that the punishment ought to be proportioned to the offence, and the like, are maxims intended to prevent the just principle of evil for evil from being perverted183 to the infliction of evil without that justification. The greater part of these common maxims have come into use from the practice of courts of justice, which have been naturally led to a more complete recognition and elaboration than was likely to suggest itself to others, of the rules necessary to enable them to fulfil their double function, of inflicting punishment when due, and of awarding to each person his right.
That first of judicial virtues, impartiality, is an obligation of justice, partly for the reason last mentioned; as being a necessary condition of the fulfilment of the other obligations of justice. But this is not the only source of the exalted184 rank, among human obligations, of those maxims of equality and impartiality, which, both in popular estimation and in that of the most enlightened, are included among the precepts of justice. In one point of view, they may be considered as corollaries from the principles already laid down. If it is a duty to do to each according to his deserts, returning good for good as well as repressing evil by evil, it necessarily follows that we should treat all equally well (when no higher duty forbids) who have deserved equally well of us, and that society should treat all equally well who have deserved equally well of it, that is, who have deserved equally well absolutely. This is the highest abstract standard of social and distributive justice; towards which all institutions, and the efforts of all virtuous185 citizens, should be made in the utmost possible degree to converge186. But this great moral duty rests upon a still deeper foundation, being a direct emanation from the first principle of morals, and not a mere logical corollary from secondary or derivative doctrines. It is involved in the very meaning of Utility, or the Greatest-Happiness Principle. That principle is a mere form of words without rational signification, unless one person's happiness, supposed equal in degree (with the proper allowance made for kind), is counted for exactly as much as another's. Those conditions being supplied, Bentham's dictum, 'everybody to count for one, nobody for more than one,' might be written under the principle of utility as an explanatory commentary.[D] The equal claim of everybody to happiness in the estimation of the moralist and the legislator, involves an equal claim to all the means of happiness, except in so far as the inevitable187 conditions of human life, and the general interest, in which that of every individual is included, set limits to the maxim; and those limits ought to be strictly188 construed189. As every other maxim of justice, so this, is by no means applied or held applicable universally; on the contrary, as I have already remarked, it bends to every person's ideas of social expediency. But in whatever case it is deemed applicable at all, it is held to be the dictate of justice. All persons are deemed to have a right to equality of treatment, except when some recognised social expediency requires the reverse. And hence all social inequalities which have ceased to be considered expedient, assume the character not of simple inexpediency, but of injustice, and appear so tyrannical, that people are apt to wonder how they ever could have been tolerated; forgetful that they themselves perhaps tolerate other inequalities under an equally mistaken notion of expediency, the correction of which would make that which they approve seem quite as monstrous190 as what they have at last learnt to condemn. The entire history of social improvement has been a series of transitions, by which one custom or institution after another, from being a supposed primary necessity of social existence, has passed into the rank of an universally stigmatized191 injustice and tyranny. So it has been with the distinctions of slaves and freemen, nobles and serfs, patricians192 and plebeians193; and so it will be, and in part already is, with the aristocracies of colour, race, and sex.
It appears from what has been said, that justice is a name for certain moral requirements, which, regarded collectively, stand higher in the scale of social utility, and are therefore of more paramount194 obligation, than any others; though particular cases may occur in which some other social duty is so important, as to overrule any one of the general maxims of justice. Thus, to save a life, it may not only be allowable, but a duty, to steal, or take by force, the necessary food or medicine, or to kidnap, and compel to officiate, the only qualified195 medical practitioner196. In such cases, as we do not call anything justice which is not a virtue, we usually say, not that justice must give way to some other moral principle, but that what is just in ordinary cases is, by reason of that other principle, not just in the particular case. By this useful accommodation of language, the character of indefeasibility attributed to justice is kept up, and we are saved from the necessity of maintaining that there can be laudable injustice.
The considerations which have now been adduced resolve, I conceive, the only real difficulty in the utilitarian theory of morals. It has always been evident that all cases of justice are also cases of expediency: the difference is in the peculiar sentiment which attaches to the former, as contradistinguished from the latter. If this characteristic sentiment has been sufficiently198 accounted for; if there is no necessity to assume for it any peculiarity of origin; if it is simply the natural feeling of resentment, moralized by being made coextensive with the demands of social good; and if this feeling not only does but ought to exist in all the classes of cases to which the idea of justice corresponds; that idea no longer presents itself as a stumbling-block to the utilitarian ethics199. Justice remains200 the appropriate name for certain social utilities which are vastly more important, and therefore more absolute and imperative, than any others are as a class (though not more so than others may be in particular cases); and which, therefore, ought to be, as well as naturally are, guarded by a sentiment not only different in degree, but also in kind; distinguished197 from the milder feeling which attaches to the mere idea of promoting human pleasure or convenience, at once by the more definite nature of its commands, and by the sterner character of its sanctions.
THE END.
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speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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binding
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| 有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的 | |
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bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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judgments
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| 判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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subjective
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| a.主观(上)的，个人的 | |
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deter
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| vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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derivative
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| n.派(衍)生物；adj.非独创性的，模仿他人的 | |
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dictates
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| n.命令，规定，要求( dictate的名词复数 )v.大声讲或读( dictate的第三人称单数 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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dictate
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| v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令 | |
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expediency
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| n.适宜；方便；合算；利己 | |
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imperative
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| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
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ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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disapproved
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| v.不赞成( disapprove的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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epithet
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| n.（用于褒贬人物等的）表述形容词，修饰语 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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advert
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| vi.注意，留意，言及；n.广告 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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deprivation
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| n.匮乏；丧失；夺去，贫困 | |
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forfeited
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| （因违反协议、犯规、受罚等）丧失，失去( forfeit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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infringing
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| v.违反（规章等）( infringe的现在分词 )；侵犯（某人的权利）；侵害（某人的自由、权益等） | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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condemn
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| vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑 | |
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condemns
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| v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的第三人称单数 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地 | |
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benefactors
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| n.捐助者，施主( benefactor的名词复数 )；恩人 | |
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inviolate
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| adj.未亵渎的，未受侵犯的 | |
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submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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restriction
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| n.限制，约束 | |
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legitimated
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| v.合情合理的( legitimate的过去式和过去分词 )；合法的；法律认可的；法定的 | |
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breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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appellation
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| n.名称，称呼 | |
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withholding
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| 扣缴税款 | |
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emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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precept
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| n.戒律；格言 | |
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waived
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| v.宣布放弃( waive的过去式和过去分词 )；搁置；推迟；放弃（权利、要求等） | |
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absolve
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| v.赦免，解除（责任等） | |
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forfeiture
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| n.（名誉等）丧失 | |
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impartial
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| adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的 | |
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impartiality
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| n. 公平, 无私, 不偏 | |
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54
censurable
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| adj.可非难的，该责备的 | |
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55
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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56
obligatory
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| adj.强制性的，义务的，必须的 | |
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57
solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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58
solicitation
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| n.诱惑；揽货；恳切地要求；游说 | |
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59
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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60
allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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61
component
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| n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的 | |
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62
outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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63
dispensed
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| v.分配( dispense的过去式和过去分词 )；施与；配（药） | |
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64
magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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65
doctrines
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| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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66
quota
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| n.（生产、进出口等的）配额，（移民的）限额 | |
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67
plausibly
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| 似真地 | |
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68
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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69
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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70
derived
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|
| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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71
etymology
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| n.语源；字源学 | |
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72
primitive
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|
| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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73
judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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74
tortuous
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|
| adj.弯弯曲曲的，蜿蜒的 | |
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75
conformity
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| n.一致，遵从，顺从 | |
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76
precepts
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| n.规诫，戒律，箴言( precept的名词复数 ) | |
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77
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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78
violation
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| n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯 | |
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79
violations
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|
| 违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸 | |
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80
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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81
unlimited
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|
| adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的 | |
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82
lament
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|
| n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹 | |
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83
impunity
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| n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
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84
amends
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| n. 赔偿 | |
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85
offender
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|
| n.冒犯者，违反者，犯罪者 | |
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86
constraint
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| n.(on)约束，限制；限制(或约束)性的事物 | |
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87
transformations
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| n.变化( transformation的名词复数 )；转换；转换；变换 | |
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88
penal
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|
| adj.刑罚的；刑法上的 | |
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89
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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90
exacting
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| adj.苛求的，要求严格的 | |
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91
disparagement
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| n.轻视，轻蔑 | |
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92
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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93
exhorted
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| v.劝告，劝说( exhort的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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94
worthiness
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| 价值，值得 | |
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95
ethical
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|
| adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的 | |
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96
philosophic
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|
| adj.哲学的，贤明的 | |
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97
proprietary
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| n.所有权，所有的；独占的；业主 | |
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98
generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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99
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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100
exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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101
exertions
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|
| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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102
gratitude
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|
| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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103
merge
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| v.(使)结合，(使)合并，(使)合为一体 | |
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104
distinctive
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|
| adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的 | |
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105
repel
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| v.击退，抵制，拒绝，排斥 | |
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106
retaliate
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|
| v.报复，反击 | |
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107
sentient
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|
| adj.有知觉的，知悉的；adv.有感觉能力地 | |
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108
apprehending
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| 逮捕，拘押( apprehend的现在分词 )； 理解 | |
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109
forth
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|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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110
retaliation
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| n.报复，反击 | |
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111
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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112
repression
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| n.镇压，抑制，抑压 | |
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113
outraged
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| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
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114
commendable
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|
| adj.值得称赞的 | |
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115
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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116
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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117
utilitarian
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| adj.实用的，功利的 | |
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118
propounds
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| v.提出（问题、计划等）供考虑[讨论]，提议( propound的第三人称单数 ) | |
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119
conscientiously
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|
| adv.凭良心地；认真地，负责尽职地；老老实实 | |
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120
recapitulate
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|
| v.节述要旨，择要说明 | |
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121
infringe
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| v.违反，触犯，侵害 | |
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122
infringement
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| n.违反；侵权 | |
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123
derives
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|
| v.得到( derive的第三人称单数 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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124
valid
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|
| adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的 | |
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125
profess
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| v.声称，冒称，以...为业，正式接受入教，表明信仰 | |
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126
justification
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| n.正当的理由；辩解的理由 | |
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127
extraordinarily
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| adv.格外地；极端地 | |
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128
immunity
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| n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权 | |
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129
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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130
infinity
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| n.无限，无穷，大量 | |
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131
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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132
analogous
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|
| adj.相似的；类似的 | |
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133
oracle
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| n.神谕，神谕处，预言 | |
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134
immutable
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| adj.不可改变的，永恒的 | |
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135
fluctuations
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| 波动，涨落，起伏( fluctuation的名词复数 ) | |
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136
controversy
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|
| n.争论，辩论，争吵 | |
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137
demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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138
maxim
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| n.格言，箴言 | |
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139
extraneous
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|
| adj.体外的；外来的；外部的 | |
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140
predilections
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| n.偏爱，偏好，嗜好( predilection的名词复数 ) | |
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141
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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142
discretion
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|
| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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143
plausible
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|
| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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144
invokes
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|
| v.援引( invoke的第三人称单数 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求 | |
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145
triumphant
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|
| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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146
maxims
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|
| n.格言，座右铭( maxim的名词复数 ) | |
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147
trampling
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| 踩( trample的现在分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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148
justify
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|
| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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149
thoroughly
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|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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150
anterior
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| adj.较早的；在前的 | |
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151
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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152
inflict
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|
| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
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153
infliction
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| n.（强加于人身的）痛苦，刑罚 | |
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154
supersede
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| v.替代；充任 | |
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155
specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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156
exigencies
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| n.急切需要 | |
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157
presumptions
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| n.假定( presumption的名词复数 )；认定；推定；放肆 | |
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158
legitimacy
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|
| n.合法，正当 | |
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159
inflicting
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的现在分词 ) | |
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160
repayment
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| n.偿还，偿还款；报酬 | |
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161
guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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162
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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163
aggravate
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| vt.加重(剧)，使恶化；激怒，使恼火 | |
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164
joint
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|
| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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165
taxation
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| n.征税，税收，税金 | |
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166
pecuniary
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| adj.金钱的；金钱上的 | |
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167
dealer
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| n.商人，贩子 | |
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168
defer
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| vt.推迟，拖延；vi.(to)遵从，听从，服从 | |
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169
extrication
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| n.解脱；救出，解脱 | |
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170
delusion
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| n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑 | |
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171
sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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172
pretensions
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| 自称( pretension的名词复数 )； 自命不凡； 要求； 权力 | |
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173
well-being
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| n.安康，安乐，幸福 | |
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174
peculiarity
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| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
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175
exhortation
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| n.劝告，规劝 | |
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176
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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177
repugnance
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| n.嫌恶 | |
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178
aggression
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| n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害 | |
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179
enjoin
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| v.命令；吩咐；禁止 | |
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180
inflicts
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的第三人称单数 ) | |
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181
immoral
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| adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的 | |
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182
habitually
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| ad.习惯地，通常地 | |
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183
perverted
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| adj.不正当的v.滥用( pervert的过去式和过去分词 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落 | |
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184
exalted
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|
| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
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185
virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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186
converge
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| vi.会合；聚集，集中；(思想、观点等)趋近 | |
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187
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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188
strictly
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|
| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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189
construed
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| v.解释（陈述、行为等）( construe的过去式和过去分词 )；翻译，作句法分析 | |
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190
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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191
stigmatized
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| v.使受耻辱，指责，污辱( stigmatize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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192
patricians
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| n.（古罗马的）统治阶层成员( patrician的名词复数 )；贵族，显贵 | |
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193
plebeians
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| n.平民( plebeian的名词复数 )；庶民；平民百姓；平庸粗俗的人 | |
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194
paramount
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| a.最重要的，最高权力的 | |
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195
qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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196
practitioner
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| n.实践者，从事者；(医生或律师等)开业者 | |
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197
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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198
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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199
ethics
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| n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准 | |
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200
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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