 CHAPTER VI. PART B 23. Thus much for the circumstances by which the effect of any exciting cause may be influenced, when applied upon any given occasion at any given period. But besides these supervening incidents, there are other circumstances relative to a man that may have their influence, and which are co-evil to his birth. In the first place, it seems to be universally agreed that in the original frame or texture of every man's body, there is something which, independently of all subsequently intervening circumstances, renders him liable to be affected by causes producing bodily pleasure or pain in a manner different from that in which another man would be affected by the same causes. To the catalogue of circumstances influencing immense sensibility, we may therefore add his original or radical frame, texture, constitution, or temperament of body. 24. In the next place, it seems to be pretty well agreed that there is something also in the original frame or texture of every man's mind, which, independently of all exterior and subsequently intervening circumstances, and even of his radical frame of body, makes him liable to be differently affected by the same exciting causes from what another man would be. To the catalogue of circumstances influencing immense sensibility, we may therefore further add his original or radical frame, texture, constitution, or temperament of mind. Footnote. The characteristic circumstances whereby one man's frame of body or mind, considered at any given period, stands distinguished from that of another, have been comprised by metaphysicians and physiologists under the name of idiosyncrasy, from idios, peculiar, and sincrasis, composition, and footnote. It seems pretty certain, all this while, that immense sensibility to causes producing pleasure or pain, even of mind, may depend in a considerable degree upon his original and acquired frame of body. But we have no reason to think that it can depend altogether upon that frame. Since, on the one hand, we see persons whose frame of body is as much alike as can be conceived, differing very considerably in respect of their mental frame. And, on the other hand, persons whose frame of mind is as much alike as can be conceived differing very conspicuously in regard to their bodily frame. Footnote. Those who maintain that the mind and the body are one substance may here object, that upon that supposition the distinction between frame of mind and frame of body is put nominal, and that accordingly there is no such thing as a frame of mind distinct from the frame of body. But, granting, for argument's sake, the antecedent we may dispute the consequence. For if the mind be but a part of the body, it is at any rate of a nature very different from the other part of the body. A man's frame of body cannot in any part of it undergo any considerable alteration without its being immediately indicated by phenomena discernible by the senses. A man's frame of mind may undergo very considerable alterations, his frame of body remaining the same to all appearance, that is, for anything that is indicated to the contrary by phenomena cognisable to the senses, meaning those of other men. End footnote. It seems indisputable also that the different sets of external occurrences that may befall a man in the course of his life will make great differences in the subsequent texture of his mind at any given period, yet still those differences are not solely to be attributed to such occurrences. Equally far from the truth seems that opinion to be, if any such be maintained, which attributes all to nature, and that which attributes all to education. The two circumstances will therefore still remain distinct, as well from one another, as from all others. Distinct, however, as they are, it is manifest that at no period in the active part of a man's life can they either of them make their appearance by themselves. All they do is to constitute the latent groundwork which the other intervening circumstances have to work upon, and whatever influence those original principles may have, is so changed and modified and covered over, as it were, by those other circumstances, as never to be separately discernible. The effects of the one influence are indistinguishably blended with those of the other. The emotions of the body are received, and with reason, as probable indications of the temperature of the mind, but they are far enough from conclusive. A man may exhibit, for instance, the exterior appearances of grief without really grieving at all, or at least in anything near the proportion in which he appears to grieve. Oliver Cromwell, whose conduct indicated a heart more than ordinarily callous, was as remarkably profuse in tears. Footnote, Hume's histories, and footnote. Many men can command the external appearances of sensibility with very little real feeling. Footnote. The quantity of the sort of pain, which is called grief, is indeed hardly to be measured by any external indications. It is neither to be measured, for instance, but the quantity of the tears, nor by the number of moments spent in crying. Indications rather less equivocal may, perhaps, be afforded by the pulse. A man has not the motions of his heart and command, as he has those of the muscles of his face. But the particular significance of these indications is still very uncertain. All they can express is that the man is affected. They can act express in what manner, nor from what cause. To an affection resulting in reality from such or such a cause, he may give an artificial coloring and attribute it to such or such another cause. To an affection directed in reality to such or such a person as its object, he may give an artificial bias and represent it as if directed to such or such another object. Tears of raid he may attribute to contrition. The concern he feels at the thoughts of a punishment that avails him, he may impute to a sympathetic concern for the mischief produced by his offence. A very tall-broke judgment, however, may commonly be formed by a discerning mind upon laying all the external indications exhibited by a man together, and at the same time comparing them with his actions. A remarkable instance of the power of the will, over the external indications of sensibility, is to be found in Tacitus's story of the Roman soldier who raised a mutiny in the camp pretending to have lost a brother by the lawless cruelty of the general. The truth was he never had had a brother. The female sex commonly was greater facility than the male, hence the proverbial expression of a woman's tears. To have this kind of command over oneself was the characteristic excellence of the orator of ancient times, and is still that of the player in our own. The remaining circumstances may, with reference to those already mentioned, be termed secondary influencing circumstances. These have an influence, it is true, under quantum or bias of immense sensibility, but it is only by means of the other primary ones. The matter in which these two sets of circumstances are concerned is such that the primary ones do the business, while the secondary ones lie most open to observation. The secondary ones, therefore, are those which are most heard of, and which account, it will be necessary to take notice of them, at the same time that it is only by means of the primary ones, that their influence can be explained, whereas the influence of the primary ones will be apparent enough without any mention of the secondary ones. Twenty-five. Among such of the primitive modifications of the corporeal frame as may appear to influence the quantum and bias of sensibility, the most obvious and conspicuous are those which constitute the sex. In point of quantity, the sensibility of the female sex appears in general to be greater than that of the male. The health of the female is more delicate than that of the male. In point of strength and hardiness of body, in point of quantity and quality of knowledge, in point of strength of intellectual powers and firmness of mind, she is commonly inferior. Moral, religious, sympathetic, and antipathetic sensibility are commonly stronger in her than in the male. The quality of her knowledge and the bent of her inclinations are commonly in many respects different. Her moral biases are also, in certain respects, remarkably different. Chastity, modesty, and delicacy, for instance, are priced more than courage in a woman. Courage more than any of those qualities in a man. The religious biases in the two sexes are not apt to be remarkably different, except that the female is rather more inclined than the male to superstition. That is, to observances not dictated by the principle of utility. A difference that may be pretty well accounted for by some of the before mentioned circumstances. Her sympathetic biases are in many respects different, for her own offspring all their lives long, and for children in general while young. Her affection is commonly stronger than that of the male. Her affections are apt to be less enlarged, seldom expending themselves so much as to take in the welfare of her country in general. Much less that of mankind or the whole sensitive creation. seldom embracing any extensive class or division, even of her own countrymen, unless it be in virtue of her sympathy for some particular individuals that belong to it. In general, her antipathetic as well as sympathetic biases are apt to be less comfortable to the principle of utility than those of the male, owing chiefly to some deficiency in point of knowledge, discernment, and comprehension. Her habitual occupations of the amusing kind are apt to be in many respects different from those of the male, with regard to her connections in the way of sympathy. There can be no difference. In point of pecuniary circumstances, according to the customs of perhaps all countries, she is in general less independent. 26. Ages, of course, divided into diverse periods, of which the number and limits are by no means uniformly ascertained. One might distinguish it for the present purpose into, one, infancy, two, adolescence, three, youth, four, maturity, five, decline, six, decrepitude. It were lost time to stop on the present occasion to examine it at each period, and to observe the indications it gives with respect to the several primary circumstances just reviewed. Infancy and decrepitude are commonly inferior to the other periods, in point of health, strength, hardness, and so forth. In infancy, on the part of the female, the imperfections of that sex are enhanced. On the part of the male, imperfections take place mostly similar in quality, but greater in quantity, to those attending the states of adolescence, youth, and maturity in the female. In the stage of decrepitude, both sexes relapse into many of the imperfections of infancy. The generality of these observations may easily be corrected upon a particular review. 27. Station, or rank in life, is a circumstance that, among a civilized people, will commonly undergo a multiplicity of variations. Citeris paribus, the quantum of sensibility, appears to be greater in higher ranks of men than in the lower. The primary circumstances, in respect of which this secondary circumstance is apt to induce or indicate a difference, seem principally to be as follows. 1. Quantity and quality of knowledge. 2. Strength of mind. 3. Bent of inclination. 4. Moral sensibility. 5. Moral biases. 6. Religious sensibility. 7. Religious biases. 8. Sympathetic sensibility. 9. Sympathetic biases. 10. Antipathetic sensibility. 11. Antipathetic biases. 12. Habitual occupations. 13. Nature and productiveness of a man's means of livelihood. 14. Connections in porting profit. 15. Habits of expense. 16. Connections in porting burden. A man of a certain rank will frequently have a number of dependents besides those whose dependency is the result of natural relationship. As to health, strength, and hardiness, if rank has any influence on these circumstances, it is, but in a remote way, chiefly, by the influence it may have on its habitual occupations. 28. The influence of education is still more extensive. Education stands upon a footing somewhat different from that of the circumstances of age, sex, and rank. These words, though the influence of the circumstances they respectively denote, exerts itself principally, if not entirely, through the medium of certain of the primary circumstances before mentioned. Present, however, each of them a circumstance which has a separate existence of itself. This is not the case with the word education, which means nothing any further, then as it serves to call up, to view, some one or more of those primary circumstances. Education may be distinguished into physical and mental, the education of the body and that of the mind, mental again, into intellectual and moral, the culture of the understanding, and the culture of the affections. The education a man receives is given to him partly by others, partly by himself. By education then, nothing more can be expressed than the condition a man is in respect of those primary circumstances, as resulting partly from the management and contrivance of others, principally of those who in the early periods of his life have had dominion over him, partly from his own. To the principal part of his education belong the circumstances of health, strength, and hardness, sometimes by accident, that of bodily imperfection, as whereby intemperance, or negligence, and irreparable mischief happens to his person. To the intellectual part, those of quantity and quality of knowledge, and in some measure, perhaps, those of firmness of mind and steadiness. To the moral part, the bent of his inclinations, the quantity and quality of his moral, religious, sympathetic, and anti-pathetic sensibility, to all three branches indiscriminately, but under the superior control of external occurrences, his habitual recreations, his property, his means of livelihood, his connections in the way of profit and of burden, and his habits of expense. With respect indeed to all these points, the influence of education is modified, in a manner more or less apparent, by that of exterior occurrences, and in a manner scarcely at all apparent, and altogether out of the reach of calculation, by the original texture and constitution, as well of his body as of his mind. 29. Among the external circumstances by which the influence of education is modified, the principle are those which come under the head of climate. This circumstance places itself in front and demands a separate denomination, not merely on account of the magnitude of its influence, but also on account of its being conspicuous to everybody, and of its applying indiscriminately to great numbers at a time. This circumstance depends for its essence upon the situation of that part of the earth which is in question, with respect to the course taken by the whole planet in its revolution round the sun. But for its influence it depends upon the condition of the bodies which compose the earth's surface at that part, principally upon the quantities of sensible heat at different periods, and upon the density, and purity, and dryness, or moisture of the circumambient air. Of the so often mentioned primary circumstances, there are few of which the production is not introduced by this secondary one, partly by its manifest effects upon the body, partly by its less perceptible effects upon the mind. In hot climate, man's health is apt to be more precarious than in cold, their strength and hardness less, their vigor, firmness and steadiness of mind less, and then indirectly their quantity of knowledge. The bent of their inclinations is different most remarkably so in respect of their superior propensity to sexual enjoyment, and in respect of the eerliness of the period at which that propensity begins to manifest itself, their sensibilities of all kinds more intense, their habitual occupations savoring more of sloth than of activity, their radical frame of body less strong, probably, and less hardy, their radical frame of mind less vigorous, less firm, less steady. 30. Another article in the catalogue of secondary circumstances is that of race or lineage. The national race or lineage a man issues from. This circumstance independently of that of climate will commonly make some difference in point of radical frame of mind and body. A man of negro race born in France or England is a very different being in many respects from a man of French or English race. A man of Spanish race born in Mexico or Peru is at the hour of his birth a different sort of being in many respects from a man of the original Mexican or Peruvian race. This circumstance as far as it is distinct from climate rank and education and from the two just mentioned operates chiefly through the medium of moral, religious, sympathetic and anti-pathetic biases. 31. The last circumstance about one is that of government. The government a man lives under adds the time in question or rather that under which he has been accustomed most to live. This circumstance operates principally through the medium of education. The magistrate operating in the character of a tutor upon all the members of the state by the direction he gives to their hopes and to their fears. Indeed under a solicitous and attentive government the ordinary preceptor, nay even the parent himself, is but a deputy as it were to the magistrate whose controlling influence different in this respect from that of the ordinary preceptor dwells with a man to his life's end. This effect of the peculiar power of the magistrate are seen more particularly in the influence it exerts over the quantity and bias of men's moral, religious, sympathetic and anti-pathetic sensibilities. Under a well constituted or even under a well administered though ill constituted government men's moral sensibility is commonly stronger and their moral biases more conformable to the dictates of utility. Their religious sensibility frequently weaker but their religious biases less unconformable to the dictates of utility. Their sympathetic affections more enlarged directed to the magistrate more than to small parties or to individuals and more to the whole community than to either. Their anti-pathetic sensibilities less violent and being more obsequious to the influence of well directed moral biases and less apt to be excited by that of ill directed religious ones. Their anti-pathetic biases more conformable to well directed moral ones more apt in proportion to be grounded on enlarged and sympathetic than on narrow and self-regarding affections and accordingly upon the whole more conformable to the dictates of utility. 32 The last circumstance is that of religious profession. The religious profession a man is of the religious fraternity of which he is a member. This circumstance operates principally through the medium of religious sensibility and religious biases. It operates however as an indication more or less conclusive with respect to several other circumstances. With respect to some scarcely but through the medium of the two just mentioned. This is the case with regard to the quantum and bias of a man's moral, sympathetic and anti-pathetic sensibility. Perhaps in some cases with regard to quantity and quality of knowledge, strength of intellectual powers and bent of inclination. With respect to others it may operate immediately of itself. This seems to be the case with regard to a man's habitual occupations, pecuniary circumstances and connections in the way of sympathy and antipathy. A man who pays very little inward regard to the dictates of the religion which he finds it necessary to profess may find it difficult to avoid joining in the ceremonies of it and bearing a part in the pecuniary burdens it imposes. Footnote. The way in which a religion may lessen a man's means or augment his wants are various. Sometimes it will prevent him from making a profit of his money, sometimes from setting his hand to labour, sometimes it will oblige him to buy dearer food instead of cheaper, sometimes to purchase useless labour, sometimes to pay men for not labouring, sometimes to purchase trinkets on which imagination alone has set a value, sometimes to purchase exemptions from punishment or titles to felicity in the world to come. End footnote. But a force of habit and example he may even be led to entertain a partiality for persons of the same profession and a proportionate antipathy against those of a rival one. In particular, the antipathy against persons of different persuasions is one of the last points of religion which men part with. Lastly, it is obvious that the religious profession a man is of cannot but have a considerable influence on his education. But considering the import of the term education, to say this is perhaps no more than saying in other words what has been said already. These circumstances, all or many of them, will tend to be attended to as often as upon any occasion any account is taken of, any quantity of pain or pleasure as resulting from any cause. Has any person sustained an injury? They will need to be considered in estimating the mischief of the offence. Is satisfaction to be made to him? They will need to be attended to in adjusting the quantum of that satisfaction. Is the injurer to be punished? They will need to be attended to in estimating the force of the impression that will be made on him by any given punishment. It is to be observed that though they seem all of them on some account or other, to merit a place in the catalogue, they are not all of equal use and practice. Different articles among them are applicable to different exciting causes. Of those that may influence the effect of the same exciting cause, some apply indiscriminately to whole classes of persons together, being applicable to all without any remarkable difference in degree. These may be directly and pretty fully provided for by the legislator. This is the case, for instance, with the primary circumstances of bodily imperfection and insanity, with the second circumstance of sex, perhaps with that of age, at any rate with those of rank, of climate, of lineage, and of religious profession. Others, however, they may apply to whole classes of persons, yet in their application to different individuals are susceptible of perhaps an indefinite variety of degrees. These cannot be fully provided for by the legislator, but as the existence of them, in every sort of case, is capable of being a certain, and the degree in which they take place is capable of being measured, provision may be made for them by the judge or other executive magistrate, to whom the several individuals that happen to be concerned may be made known. This is the case, one, with circumstance of health, two, in some sort with that of strength, three, scarcely with that of hardness, still less with those of quantity and quality of knowledge, strength of intellectual powers, firmness or steadiness of mind, except in as far as a man's condition in respect to those circumstances may be indicated by the secondary circumstances of sex, age or rank, hardly with that of bent of inclination, except in as far as that latent circumstance is indicated by the more manifest one of habitual occupations, hardly with that of a man's moral sensibility or biases, except in as far as they may be indicated by his sex, age, rank, and education, not at all with his religious sensibility and religious biases, except in as far as they may be indicated by the religious profession he belongs to, not at all with the quantity or quality of his sympathetic or anti-pathetic sensibilities, except in as far as they may be presumed from his sex, age, rank, education, lineage or religious profession. It is the case, however, with his habitual occupations, with his pecuniary circumstances and with his connections in the way of sympathy. Of others, again, either the existence cannot be ascertained or the degree cannot be measured. These, therefore, cannot be taken into account either by the legislator or the executive magistrate. Accordingly, they would have no claim to be taken notice of, were it not for those secondary circumstances by which they were indicated, and whose influence could not well be understood without them. What these are has been already mentioned. It has already been observed that different articles in this list of circumstances apply to different exciting causes. The circumstance of bodily strength, for instance, has scarcely any influence of itself, whatever it may have in a roundabout way and by accident, on the effect of an incident which should increase or diminish the quantum of a man's property. It remains to be considered what the exciting causes are with which the legislator has to do. These may by some accident or other be any whatsoever, but those which he has principally to do are those of the painful or afflictive kind. With pleasurable ones he has little to do, except now and then by accident, the reasons of which may be easily enough perceived, at the same time that it would take up too much room to unfold them here. The exciting causes with which he has principally to do are, on the one hand, the mischievous act, which it is his business to prevent, on the other hand, the punishments, by the terror of which it is his endeavour to prevent them. Now of these two sets of exciting causes, the latter only is of his production, being produced partly by his own special appointment, partly in conformity to his general appointment, by the special appointment of the judge. For the legislator, therefore, as well as for the judge, it is necessary, if they would know what it is they are doing when they are pointing punishment, to have an eye to all these circumstances. For the legislator, lest, meaning to apply a certain quantity of punishment to all persons who shall put themselves in a given predicament, he should, unwares, apply to some of those persons much more or much less than he himself intended. For the judge, lest, in applying to a particular person a particular measure of punishment, he should apply much more or much less than was intended, perhaps by himself and at any rate by the legislator. They ought each of them, therefore, to have before him, on the one hand, a list of the several circumstances by which sensibility may be influenced, on the other hand, a list of the several species and degrees of punishment which they purpose to make use of, and then, by making a comparison between the two, to form a detailed estimate of the influence of each of the circumstances in question, upon the effect of each species and degree of punishment. There are two plans or orders of distribution, order of which might be pursued in the drawing of this estimate. This one is to make the name of the circumstance take the lead, and under it, to represent the different influences it exerts over the effects of the several modes of punishment. The other is to make the name of the punishment take the lead, and under it, to represent the different influences which are exerted over the effects of it, by the several circumstances above mentioned. Now, of these two sorts of objects, the punishment is that to which the intention of the legislator is directed in the first instance. This is of his own creation, and will be whatsoever he thinks fit to make it. The influencing circumstance exists independently of him, and is what it is whether he will or not. What he has occasion to do is to establish a certain species and degree of punishment, and it is only with reference to that punishment that he has occasion to make any inquiry concerning any of the circumstances here in question. The latter of the two plans, therefore, is that which appears, by far, the most useful and commodious. But neither upon the one, nor the other plan, can any such estimate be delivered here. Footnote. This is far from being a visionary proposal, not reducible to practice. I speak from experience having actually drawn up such an estimate, though upon the least commodious of the two plans, and before the several circumstances in question had been reduced to the precise number and order in which they are here enumerated. This is a part of the matter distance for another work. There are some of these circumstances that bestow particular denominations on the persons they relate to. Thus, from the circumstance of bodily imperfections, persons are denominated deaf, dumb, blind, and so forth, from the circumstance of insanity, idiots, and maniacs, from the circumstance of age, infants, for all which classes of persons particular provisions is made in the coat. See Book One, Title Exemptions. Persons thus distinguished will form so many articles in the catalogus personorum privilegiatorum. See Appendix, Title Composition. And Footnote. Of the several circumstances contained in this catalog, it may be of use to give some sort of analytic view, in order that it may be the more easily discovered if any which ought to have been inserted are omitted, and that, with regard to those which are inserted, it may be seen how they differ and agree. In the first place, they may be distinguished into primary and secondary. Those may be termed primary, which operate immediately of themselves. Those secondary, which operate, not but by the medium of the former. To this latter head belong the circumstances of sex, age, station in life, education, climate, lineage, government, and religious profession. The rest are primary. These, again, are either connet or adventitious. Those which are connet are radical frame of body and radical frame of mind. Those which are adventitious are either personal or exterior. The personal, again, concern either a man's dispositions or his actions. Those which concern his dispositions concern either his body or his mind. Those which concern his body are health, strength, hardness, and bodily imperfection. Those which concern his mind, again, concern either his understanding or his affections. To the former head belong the circumstances of quantity and quality of knowledge, strength of understanding, and insanity. To the latter belong the circumstances of firmness, of mind, steadiness, bent of inclination, moral sensibility, moral biases, religious sensibility, religious biases, sympathetic sensibility, sympathetic biases, anti-pathetic sensibility, and anti-pathetic biases. Those which regard his actions are his habitual occupations. Those which are exterior to him regard either the things or the persons which he is concerned with. Under the former head come his pecuniary circumstances. Footnote. As to a man's pecuniary circumstances, the causes on which those circumstances depend do not come all of them under the same class. The absolute quantum of a man's property does indeed come under the same class as with his pecuniary circumstances in general, so does the profit he makes from the preoccupation which furnishes him with the means of a livelihood. But the occupation itself concerns his own person, and comes under the same head as his habitual amusements. As likewise his habits of expense, his connections in the ways of profit and of burden under the same head as his connections in the way of sympathy, and the circumstances of his present demand for money and strength of expectation come under the head of those circumstances relative to his person which regard his affections. End footnote. Under the latter, his connections in the way of sympathy and antipathy. End of chapter 6. Chapter 7 of an introduction to the principles of modules and legislation. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org, recording by Gogo Blue. An introduction to the principles of modules and legislation by Jeremy Bentham. Chapter 7 of human actions in general. 1. The business of government is to promote the happiness of the society by punishing and rewarding. That part of its business which consists in punishing is more particularly the subject of penal law. Improportions as an act tends to disturb that happiness. Improportions as the tendency of it is pernicious will be the demand it creates for punishment. What happiness consists of, we have already seen, enjoyment of pleasures, security from pains. 2. The general tendency of an act is more or less pernicious according to the sum total of its consequences. That is, according to the difference between the sum of such as are good and the sum of such as are evil. 3. It is to be observed that here, as well as hence forward, wherever consequences are spoken of, such only are meant as are material. Of the consequences of any act, the multitude and variety must needs be infinite. But such of them only as are material are worth regarding. Now among the consequences of an act, be they what they may, such only, by one who views them in the capacity of a legislator, can be said to be material. 4. Food note or of importance and a food note, as either consists of pain or pleasure, or have an influence in the production of pain or pleasure. Food note. In certain cases, the consequences of an act may be material by serving as evidences indicating the existence of some other material fact, which is even antecedent to the act of which they are the consequences. But even here, they are material only because in virtue of such their evidentiary quality, they have an influence at a subsequent period of time in the production of pain and pleasure. For example, by serving as grounds for conviction and thence for punishment. See title Simple Force Hoose, verbal material and a food note. 4. It is also to be observed that into the account of the consequences of the act, are to be taken not such only as might have ensued or intention out of the question, but such also as depend upon the connection there may be between these first mentioned consequences and the intention. The connection there is between the intention and certain consequences is, as we shall see here after, food note, CB1, title, exemptions and title, extenuations and a food note, a means of producing other consequences. In this slide, the difference between rational agency and irrational. 5. Now the intention with regard to the consequences of an act will depend upon two things. One, the state of the will or intention with respect to the act itself and two, the state of the understanding or perceptive faculties with regard to the circumstances which it is or may appear to be accompanied with. Now with respect to these circumstances, the perceptive faculty is susceptible of three states, consciousness, unconsciousness and false consciousness. Consciousness when the party believes precisely those circumstances and no others to subsist, which really do subsist unconsciousness. When he fails of perceiving certain circumstances to subsist, which however do subsist, false consciousness when he believes or imagines certain circumstances to subsist, which in truth do not subsist. 6. In every transaction, therefore, which is examined with a view to punishment, there are four articles to be considered. 1. The act itself, which is done. 2. The circumstances in which it is done. 3. The intentionality that may have accompanied it. 4. The consciousness, unconsciousness or false consciousness that may have accompanied it. What regards the act and the circumstances will be the subject of the present chapter? What regards the intention and consciousness that of the two succeeding? 7. There are also two other articles on which the general tendency of an act depends, and on that, as well as on other accounts, the demand which it creates for punishment. These are 1. The particular motive or motives which gave birth to it. 2. The general disposition which it indicates. These articles will be the subject of two other chapters. 8. Acts may be distinguished in several ways for several purposes. They may be distinguished in the first place into positive and negative, by positive amount such as consisting in motion or exertion, by negative such as consisting in keeping at rest, that is in forebearing to move or exert oneself in such and such circumstances. Thus, to strike is a positive act, not to strike on a certain occasion a negative one. Positive acts are styled also acts of commission, negative, acts of omission or forbearance. Full note, the distinction between positive and negative acts runs through the whole system of offenses, and sometimes makes a material difference with regard to their consequences. To reconcile us the better to the extensive, and as it may appear on some occasions, the inconsistent signification here given to the word act, it may be considered one that in many cases where no exterior or a word act is exercised, the state which the mind is in at the time when the supposed act is said to happen, is as truly and directly the result of the will as any exterior act helps in and conspicuous so ever. The not revealing a conspiracy or instance may be as perfectly the act of the will as a joining in it, in the next place that even though the mind should never have had the incident in question, in contemplation, in so much that the event of its not happening should not have been so much as obliquely intentional. Still the state the person's mind was in at the time when, if he had so built, the incident might have happened as in many cases productive of as material consequences and not only as likely but as fit to call for the interposition of other agents as the opposite one. Thus when a text is imposed, you're not paying it is an act which at any rate must be punished in a certain manner whether you happened to think of paying it or not and a full note. Nine, such acts again as are negative may either been absolutely so or relatively, absolutely when they import the negation of all positive agency whatsoever, for instance not to strike at all. Relatively when they import the negation of such or such a particular mode of agency, for instance not to strike such a person or such a thing or in such a direction. Ten, it is to be observed that the nature of the act whether positive or negative is not to be determined immediately by the form of the discourse made use of to express it. An act which is positive in its nature may be characterized by a negative expression thus not to be at rest is as much as to say to move. So also an act which is negative in its nature may be characterized by a positive expression thus to forebear or omit to bring food to a person in certain circumstances is signified by the single and positive term to starve. Eleven, in the second place acts may be distinguished into external and internal. By external are meant corporal acts, acts of the body by internal mental acts, acts of the mind. Thus to strike is an external or exterior. Full note an exterior act is also called by lawyers a word and a full note act to intend to strike an internal or exterior one. Twelve, acts of discourse are a sort of mixture of the two external acts which are no ways material no attended with any consequences any further than as they serve to express the existence of the internal ones to speak to another to strike to write to him to strike to make science to him to strike are all so many acts of discourse. Thirteen, third acts that are external may be distinguished into transitive and intransitive. Acts may be called transitive when the motion is communicated from the person of the agent to some foreign body that is to such a foreign body on which the effects of it are considered as being material as where a man runs against you or throws water in your face acts may be called intransitive when the motion is communicated to no other body on which the effects of it are regarded as material than some part of the same person in whom it originated as where a man runs or washes himself. Full note the distinction is well known to the letter grammarians it is with them indeed that it took its rise though by them it has been applied rather to the names than to the things themselves to verbs signifying transitive acts as here described they have given the name of transitive verbs those significative of the intransitive acts they have termed the intransitive these last are still more frequently called neuter that is neither active nor passive the appellation seems improper since instead of there being neither they are both in one to the class of acts that are here termed intransitive belong those which constitute the third class in the system of offenses see chapter 16 division and b1 title self-regarding offenses and a full note 14 an act of the transitive kind may be said to be in his commencement or in the first stage of his progress while the motion is confined to the person of the agent and has not yet been communicated to any foreign body on which the effects of it can be material it may be said to be in its termination or to be in the last stage of his progress as soon as the motion or impulse has been communicated to some such foreign body it may be said to be in the middle or intermediate stage or stages of his progress while the motion having passed from the person of the agent has not yet been communicated to any such foreign body thus as soon as a man has lifted up his hand to strike the act he performs in striking you is in his commencement as soon as his hand has reached you it is in his termination if the act to be the motion of a body which is separated from the person of the agent before it reaches the object it may be said during that interval to be in his intermediate progress full note or in his migration or in transitude and the full note or in gradual mediative as in the case where a man throws a stone or fires a bullet at you 15 an act of the in transitive kind may be said to be in his commencement when the motion or impulse is as yet confined to the member or organ in which it originated and has not yet been communicated to any member or organ that is distinguishable from the former it may be said to be in his termination as soon as it has been applied to any other part of the same person thus where a man poisons himself while he is lifting up the poison to his mouth the act is in his commencement as soon as it has reached his lips it is in his termination full note these distinctions will be referred to in the next chapter intentionality and applied in practice in b1 title extenuations and of full note 16 in the third place acts may be distinguished into transient and continued thus to strike is a transient act to lean a continued one to buy a transient act to keep in one's possession a continued one 17 in strictness of speech there is a difference between a continued act and the repetition of acts it is a repetition of acts when there are intervals filled up by acts of different natures a continued act when there are no such intervals thus to lean is continued act to keep striking a repetition of acts 18 there is a difference again between a repetition of acts and a habit or practice the term repetition of acts may be employed let the acts in question be separated by ever such short intervals and let the sum total of them occupy ever so short a space of time the term habit is not employed but when the act in question are supposed to be separated by long continued intervals and the sum total of them to occupy a considerable space of time it is not for instance the drinking ever so many times now ever so much at a time in the course of the same sitting that will constitute a habit of drunkenness it is necessary that such settings themselves be frequently repeated every habit is a repetition of acts or to speak more strictly when a man has frequently repeated such and such acts after considerable intervals he is said to have preserved in or contracted a habit but every repetition of acts is not a habit full note a habit it should seem can hardly in strictness be termed an aggregate of acts acts being a shot of real archetypal entities and habits a kind of fictitious entities or imaginary beings supposed to be constituted by or to result as it were out of the former and a full note 19 fourth acts may be distinguished into indivisible and divisible indivisible acts are merely imaginary they may be easily conceived but can never be known to be exemplified such as our divisible may be so with regard either to matter or to to motion the next indivisible with regard to matter is the motion or rest of one single atom of matter an act indivisible with regard to motion is the motion of anybody from one single atom of space to the next to it fifth acts may be distinguished into simple and complex simple such as the act of striking the act of leaning or the act of drinking above instance complex consisting each of a multitude of simple acts which though numerous and heterogeneous derive a sort of unity from the relation they bear to some common design or end such as the act of giving a dinner the act of maintaining a child the act of exhibiting a triumph the act of bearing arms the act of holding a court and so forth 20 it has been every now and then made a question what it is in such a case that constitutes one act where one act has ended and another act has begun whether what was happened has been one act or many full note distinctions like these come frequently in question in the cause of procedure and a full note these questions it is now evident may frequently be answered with equal propriety in opposite ways and if there be any occasions on which they can be answered only in one way the answer will depend upon the nature of the occasion and the purpose for which the question is proposed a man is wounded in two fingers at one stroke is it one wound or several a man is beaten at 12 o'clock and again at eight minutes after 12 is it one beating or several you beat one man and instantly in the same breath you beat another is this one beating or several in any of these cases it may be one perhaps as to some purposes and several as to others these examples are given that man may be aware of the ambiguity of language and neither harass themselves with unsolvable doubts nor one another with interminable disputes 21 so much with regard to acts considered in themselves we come now to speak of the circumstances with which they may have been accompanied these must necessarily be taken into the account before anything can be determined relative to the consequences what is the consequences of an act may be upon the whole can never otherwise be a certain it can never be known whether it is beneficial or indifferent or mischievous in some circumstances even to kill a man may be a beneficial act in others to set food before him may be a pernicious one 22 now the circumstances of an act are what an objects full note or in titles cp2 title evidence section facts and a full note whatsoever take any act whatsoever there is nothing in the nature of things that excludes any imaginable object from being a circumstance to it any given object may be a circumstance to any other full note the etymology of the word circumstance is perfectly characteristic of its import circumstantia things standing round objects standing round a given object i forget what mathematician it was that defined god to be a circle of which the center is everywhere but the circumference nowhere in like manner the field of circumstances belonging to any act may be defined a circle of which the circumference is nowhere but which the act in question is the center now then as any act may for the purpose of this course be considered as a center any other act or object whatsoever may be considered as of the number of those that are standing around it and the full note 23 we have already had occasion to make mention for a moment of the consequences of an act these were distinguished into material and immaterial in like manner may the circumstances of it be distinguished now materiality is a relative term applied to the consequences of an act it bore relation to pain and pleasure applied to the circumstances it bears relation to the consequences a circumstance may be said to be material when it bears a visible relation in point of causality to the consequences immaterial when it bears no such visible relation 24 the consequences of an act are events full note cb2 title evidence section facts and the full note a circumstance may be related to an event in point of causality in any one of four ways one in the way of causation or production two in the way of derivation three in the way of collateral condition four in the way of conjunct influence it may be said to be related to the event in the way of causation when it is of the number of those that contribute to the production of such event in the way of derivation when it is of the number of the events to the production of which that in question has been contributory in the way of collateral connection where the circumstance in question and the event in question without being either of them instrumental in the production of the other are related each of them to some common object which has been concerned in the production of them both in the way of conjunct influence when whether related in any other way or not they have both of them concurred in the production of some common consequence 25 an example may be of youth in the year 1628 vilius duke of buckingham favorated and the minister of charles the first of england received a wound and died the man who gave it him was one felton who exasperated at the blood administration of which that minister was accused went down from london to post mouth where buckingham happened them to be made his way into his ante chamber and finding him bitly engaged in conversation with a number of people around him got close to him drew a knife and stabbed him in the effort the assassin's head fell off which was found soon after and upon searching him the bloody knife in the crown of the head were found scraps of paper with sentences expressive of the purpose he was come upon here then suppose the event in question is a wound received by buckingham felton's drawing out his knife he's making his way into the chamber he's going down to post mouth he's conceiving an indignation at the idea of buckingham's administration that administration itself charles is appointing such a minister and so on higher and higher without end are so many circumstances related to the event of buckingham's receiving the wound in the way of causation or production the bloodness of the knife a circumstance related to the same event in the way of derivation the finding of the head upon the ground the finding the sentences in the head and the writing them so many circumstances related to it in the way of collateral connection and the situation and conversations of the people about buckingham were circumstances related to the circumstances of felton's making his way into the room going down to post mouth and so forth in the way of conjunct influence in as much as the contributed in common to the event of buckingham's receiving the wound by preventing him from putting himself upon his guard upon the first appearance of the intruder full note the division may be father illustrated and confirmed by the most simple and particular case of animal generation to production corresponds paternity to derivation filiation to collateral connection collateral constant guarantee to conjunct influence marriage and copulation if necessary it might be again illustrated by the material image of a chain such as that which according to the ingenious fiction of the ancients is attached to the throne of jupiter a section of this chain should then be exhibited by way of specimen is a manner of the diagram of a pedigree such a figure i should accordingly have exhibited had it not been for the apprehension that in the exhibition of this thought while it made the subject a small matter clearer to one man out of a hundred might like the mathematical formulatories we see some things employed for the like purpose make it more obscure and formidable for the other 99 and a full note 26 this several relations do not all of them attach upon an event with equal certainty in the first place it is plain indeed that every event must have some circumstance or other and in truth and in definite multitude of circumstances related to it in the way of production it must of course have a still greater multitude of circumstances related to it in the way of collateral connection but it does not appear necessary that every event should have circumstances related to it in a way of derivation nor therefore that it should have any related to it in a way of conjunct influence but of the circumstances of all kinds which actually do attach upon an event it is only a very small number that can be discovered by the utmost exertion of the human faculties it is a still smaller number that ever actually do attract our notice when occasion happens more or fewer of them will be discovered by a man in proportion to the strength partly of his intellectual powers partly of his inclination to note the more remote a connection of this thought is of course the more obscure it will often happen that a connection the idea of which would at first sight appear extravagant and absurd shall be rendered highly probable and indeed indisputable merely by the suggestion of a few intermediate circumstances at Rome 390 years before the Christian era a goose sets up a kekling 2000 years afterwards a king of France is murdered to consider these two events and nothing more what can appear more extravagant than the notion that the former of them should have had any influence on the production of the letter fill up the gap bring to mind a few intermediate circumstances nothing can appear more probable it was a kekling of a parcel of geese at the time the Gauls had surprised the capital that saved the roman commonwealth had it not been for the ascendancy that commonwealth acquired afterwards over most of the nations of europe amongst others over france the christian religion humanly speaking could not have established itself in the manner it did in that country grant then that such a man as Henry the fourth would have existed no man however would have had those motives by which revelak misled by a mischievous notion concerning the dictates of that religion was prompted to assassinate him and for note it appears therefore that the multitude and the description of such of the circumstances belonging to an act as may appear to be material will be determined by two considerations one by the nature of things themselves two by the strength of weakness of the faculties of those who happen to consider them 27 thus much it seemed necessary to premise in general concerning acts and their circumstances previously to the consideration of the particular source of acts with their particular circumstances with which we shall have to do in the body of the work an act of some sort or other is necessarily included in the notion of every offense together with this act under the notion of the same offense are included certain circumstances which circumstances enter into the essence of the offense contribute by their conjunct influence to the production of these consequences and in conjunction with the act are brought into view by the name by which it stands distinguished this we shall have occasion to distinguish hereafter by the name of grim native circumstances full note cb1 title grim circumstances and the full note other circumstances again entering into combination with the act and the former set of circumstances are productive of still father consequences this additional consequences if they are of the beneficial kind bestow according to the value they bear in that capacity upon the circumstances to which they owe their birth the ablation of exculpative footnote cb1 title justifications and the full note or extenuating circumstances full note cb1 title extenuation and the full note if of the mischievous kind they bestow on them the ablation of aggravative circumstances full note cb1 title aggravations and the full note of all these different sets of circumstances the grim native are connected with the consequences of the original offense in the way of production with the act and with one another in the way of conjunct influence the consequences of the original offense with them and with the act respectively in the way of derivation the consequences of the modified offense with the grim native exculpative and extenuating circumstances respectively in the way also of derivation these different sets of circumstances with the consequences of the modified act or offense in the way of production and with one another in respect of the consequences of the modified act or offense in the way of conjunct influence lastly whatever circumstances can be seen to be connected with the consequences of the offense whether directly in the way of derivation or obliquely in the way of collateral affinity to wit in virtue of its being connected in the way of derivation with some of the circumstances with which they stand connected in the same manner bear a material relation to the offense in the way of evidence they may accordingly be styled evidentiary circumstances and may become of use by being held forth upon occasion as so many proofs indications or evidences of its having been committed full note cb1 title accessory offenses and b2 title evidence it is evident that this analysis is equally applicable to incidents of a purely physical nature as to those in which module agency is concerned if therefore it'd be just and useful here it might be found not impossible perhaps to find some use for it in natural philosophy and of full note and of chapter seven