s, in the mean time, must be allowed, that SENTIMENTS are every day
experienced of blame and praise, which have objects beyond the dominion
of the will or choice, and of which it behoves us, if not as moralists,
as speculative philosophers at least, to give some satisfactory theory
and explication.

A blemish, a fault, a vice, a crime; these expressions seem to denote
different degrees of censure and disapprobation; which are, however, all
of them, at the bottom, pretty nearly all the same kind of species. The
explication of one will easily lead us into a just conception of the
others; and it is of greater consequence to attend to things than to
verbal appellations. That we owe a duty to ourselves is confessed even
in the most vulgar system of morals; and it must be of consequence to
examine that duty, in order to see whether it bears any affinity to that
which we owe to society. It is probable that the approbation attending
the observance of both is of a similar nature, and arises from similar
principles, whatever appellation we may give to either of these
excellencies.

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