Hume's Political Discourses

Chapter 40: NOTE, OF POLITICAL SOCIETY.

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About This Book

The collection gathers concise, empirically minded essays that analyze economic mechanisms—commerce, money, interest, trade balances, taxation, and public credit—alongside reflections on population and customary practices. It also turns to political theory, questioning foundations of government, the doctrine of passive obedience, party coalitions, succession, and the idea of a perfect commonwealth. Arguments rely on historical examples and philosophical reasoning to trace causes and consequences and to propose practical policy inferences. The tone is analytical and accessible, combining moral philosophy with economic observation to illuminate how institutions, laws, and fiscal arrangements shape national prosperity and stability.

NOTE, OF POLITICAL SOCIETY.

117 That the lighter machine yields to the heavier, and in machines of the same kind, that the empty yields to the loaded—this rule is founded on convenience. That those who are going to the capital take place of those who are coming from it—this seems to be founded on some idea of the dignity of the great city, and of the preference of the future to the past. From like reasons, among foot-walkers, the right-hand entitles a man to the wall and prevents jostling, which peaceable people find very disagreeable and inconvenient.