4240. JUSTICE, Sense of.—
Destutt Tracy
promises a work on morals, in which I lament
to see that he will adopt the principles
of Hobbes, or humiliation to human nature;
that the sense of justice and injustice is not
derived from our natural organization, but
founded on convention only. * * * Assuming
the fact, that the earth has been
created in time, and consequently the dogma
of final causes, we yield, of course, to this
short syllogism: Man was created for social
intercourse; but social intercourse cannot
be maintained without a sense of justice; then
man must have been created with a sense
of justice.—
To F. W. Gilmer. Washington ed. vii, 4.
Ford ed., x, 32.
(M.
1816)
