Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes Quotes

“Y: How can man do without the aid of horses?
Z: That is his business to find out.
Y: Do you not think that mankind would be very miserable without their assistance?
Z: Not much more so than with it: in some cases less.”
― Lewis Gompertz, Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes

“Y: WHAT are your opinions concerning the propriety of man's compelling horses, and other beasts of burden, to perform his labour?
Z: That at least in the present state of society, it is unjust. And, considering the unnecessary abuse they suffer from being in the power of man, I think it wrong to use them, and to encourage their being placed in his power.
Y: Still it perplexes me to conceive that it can be wrong to use them with discretion: they appear to enjoy their work as well as their masters.
Z: It does not, I understand, perplex you to conceive that it can be wrong to compel slaves to work: and I am at a loss how you can disapprove of the one, and countenance the other, which appears to me to be so similar. Slaves would also at times prefer working to being kept confined.”
― Lewis Gompertz, Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes

“Y: What do you say about the number of insects and worms you destroy in procuring your vegetables?
Z: That I am sorry for it; but that it is undesignedly done.
Y: That will be but a poor compensation to them for the loss of their lives.
Z: It cannot be helped; it is their misfortune to be in my way: and perhaps it is wrong, but a crime of a different nature.”
― Lewis Gompertz, Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes

“It is strange that philosophers first show how one animal supports itself by destroying another, and then enter into discussions on the apparent admirable order of things in their present state. But though this may be a necessary contrivance, and the only way in which life can be supported, it can never be a beautiful one, in our short sights, notwithstanding that something worse might be, were this not the case.
In order to admire the goodness of God with the greatest force, we should endeavour to reach in imagination the improved state of the world, which it seems probable will be effected in the course of time. What may not be expected from the genius of man, which appears to gain fresh powers from every new idea that he gains from his fellows, and fresh means from all the inventions which the united efforts of the whole species bring forth? It is the extent of combination which chiefly raises man above brutes; and to combination are we to look to mature the views of Providence in forming society, and in regulating the affairs of life.”
― Lewis Gompertz, Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes

“It is also true that, whatever class of mankind we examine, we find many distinct troubles attached to it, exclusively of such kind of unhappiness as does not relate to any peculiar mode of life, or what may affect particular individuals; life itself beginning and ending in suffering, and, as it seems, generally continuing during its course also with a balance of suffering, caused the different difficulties, disappointments, and other evils to which it is subject, where he is continually exchanging some perfections in his body, for an infirmity; and losing the possession of his friends or of other things essential to his happiness; with the constant anxiety of an eternal futurity presented to his sight, and being entirely ignorant of what may be his fate in it. Some being doomed to practise a variety of hazardous employments; others to over exertion of their strength: Some to irksome sedentary occupations, or to constant and difficult manual operations and straining of attention: many allotted to spend their lives underground in mines, to breathe foul air: and numbers being compelled to follow trades which expose them to all inclemencies of weather, and to other circumstances that lay foundations for the most inveterate diseases. Among the most common evils are the ill treatment met with by apprentices from their masters, and women from their husbands, who frequently from neglect of education, and favoured by the laws of their own sex, exercise their authority as they think suitable to the dignity of themselves; and mistake their think suitable to the dignity of themselves; and mistake their superiority of strength, which was given to them partly for the purpose of defending their wives and labouring for them - for a privilege from God to exercise their tyranny towards them. It is known that generally the less society is civilized, the worse is the treatment of women. But it is strange in such a country as England, that women should still be degraded and ill treated, and confined to lower occupations than men are; that they should meet with less lenity in courts of justice, as well as more illiberality in private life; that the law should ever have subjected women to commit the crime of murder on their husbands to be burned alive for it, while men for a similar crime were only sentenced to be executed in the common way. But men made the laws; and as they thought”
― Lewis Gompertz, Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes

“But the man of the improved age will speak thus: Whichever way I direct my observation, I see the power and goodness of my Maker. What multitudes of animals do I behold! All variations of myself! Every one appearing to be the work of the same inimitable Artist! All created with powers to enjoy their own existence; though none so great as myself, and most of them incapable of establishing and maintaining their own well-being. But I, being the head, I will direct them; this is my office: and how much do I consider myself honoured, to second these important works which God hath made! It was partly for this that I was formed superior; otherwise I should have been unfit for the charge. This will constitute much of my amusement, instead of hunting, shooting, bull-baiting, etc., but which I had used to think that I spent my time innocently. Still, might is right, when judgement is might, though not when might is judgement.”
― Lewis Gompertz, Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes

“But it is here to be remarked, that in such an improved state of society, man will apparently have but little occasion for the assistance of other animals: divers intentions will, it seems, generally supply their place, and even do better than animal labour: man, then becoming truly religious, will glory in superintending the works of his Maker, which he has entrusted to him: as a faithful servant, he will then not deny to what he now calls the meanest reptile, his protection, and own it to be his brother, resembling himself in construction, and created with similar care by the Supreme Being. Still in this age of imperfection we disdain to direct our attention to that on which God hath bestowed his. But this seems to be still the age of infancy, and baby-like do we cry, This is all made for me! The land and the ocean abound with myriads of animated beings of admirable construction only for me to play with, to torment, and to destroy. This is what we are taught.”
― Lewis Gompertz, Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes

“Even from the ass may we take examples of one of the first qualities of the mind, in which the greatest philosophers can scarcely vie with him; consisting in the exercise of that resigned Christian-like and even Stoic-like fortitude, that would have done honour to Zeno himself, continually evinced through a long life of almost incessant torture and trouble, inflicted on him by man, who only derides his sufferings, and wonders at his stupidity, that he himself has caused by injuring his head with blows, and by other ill-treatment. The great con- tempt this animal is held in, is even apparent by the way in which he is spoken of, the very name having been changed into slang language for another term.”
― Lewis Gompertz, Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes

“It has been generally, but not always, the custom of naturalists to degrade the powers of dumb animals into mere instinct, and not to allow them reason; and on the other hand to elevate the qualities of man, by entirely disavowing the power of instinct in man, giving him the use of reason alone. It appears to me, that there is such a quality as instinct; by which I understand a desire to do anything without knowing why, or without having the object in view which it is to reach. I am of opinion that both reason and instinct act in man and also in brutes; and I will even grant that the proportion of reason to instinct is greater in man than in other animals; but that the latter possess a great portion of reason would it seems be absurd to dispute.”
― Lewis Gompertz, Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes

“It is to be lamented that even philosophers frequently forget themselves on this subject, and relate, with the greatest indifference, the numerous barbarous and merciless experiments they have performed on the suffering and innocent brutes, even on those which show affection for them; and then coldly make their observations and calculations on every different form in which the agony produced by them manifests itself. But this they do for the advancement of science and expect much praise from their meritorious exertions; forgetting that science should be subservient to the welfare of man and other animals, and ought not to be pursued merely through emulation, nor even for the sensual gratification the mind derives from them, at the expense of justice, the destruction of the happiness of others, and the production of their misery - as pleasure and pain are the only things of importance.”
― Lewis Gompertz, Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes

“It needs but little power of rhetoric to prove, that it is highly culpable in man to torture the brute creation for amusement: but strange it would seem this self-evident principle is not only openly violated by men, whose rank in life has denied them the benefit of good education or leisure for reflection, but also by those with whom neither expense nor trouble has been spared towards the formation of their intellectual powers, even in their most abstracted recesses; and who in other respects delight in the application of their abilities towards every thing that is good and meritorious.”
― Lewis Gompertz, Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes

“Let the general characters of our coachmen, carmen, postillions, etc., be considered; men who have not had the advantage of a good education, and who are mostly chosen as possessing good and healthy constitutions; little acquainted with painful sensations, and much less disposed to experience any for the sufferings of their cattle; let us reflect on the natural desire of most men for domineering over others. Let it be remembered that these men, from their want of power and their inability of exercising any tyranny over their fellow-creatures, give unrestrained scope to their barbarity on their cattle, which it seems they justly indeed consider as their slaves, and whom, from ignorance and love of cruelty, they press to such a degree, as to render them incapable of yielding the profit which a milder treatment would ensure. And it is to these men, then, that these creatures, seemingly possessed of feelings very similar to our own, are completely given up during their whole lives of above twenty years, when the very idea of our being at the mercy of the former for an instant would be dreaded.”
― Lewis Gompertz, Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes

“The dreadful situation of the brute creation, particularly of those which have been domesticated, claims our strictest attention. Let every mind capable of reflection, direct it for a moment to that of the horse and the ass, by whose exertions we (in the present state of things) derive so much advantage; and let their cases be examined by a judgement unbiassed by habit. We are indeed so accustomed to see their excruciating sufferings, that they fail of exciting the attention even of the benevolent, who concur in the idea that a horse was created to be whipped on its almost bare skin, simply to compel it to perform the labour that the purpose or caprice of his master may require; and in doing which so many persons take delight, to the utmost of what the nature of the animal can support.”
― Lewis Gompertz, Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes

“Y: I UNDERSTAND that you object to the use of milk; what harm can there be in that?
Z: It was evidently provided for the calf, and not for man.
Y: When the calf is taken away from its mother, it is then a kindness to relieve her of her milk.
Z: But the calf should not be taken away.”
― Lewis Gompertz, Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes

“It has frequently been asserted by authors, though it seems with a good intention, that "no man is miserable but by his own fault." But what good purpose this slander on the unfortunate can accomplish, is difficult to discover, as is also how the idea can appear correct. And even in cases in which it may be his fault, what is fault but infirmity? And though sometimes a proper hint may lead a patient to perform his own cure, how many cases are there beyond the depth which human skill can fathom, and where any rough attempt would only be adding useless torment to a hopeless malady!”
― Lewis Gompertz, Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes

“But the constant pursuit of a moralist is to render all beings EQUALLY HAPPY, to increase the stock of happiness, and to lessen the stock of pain, as far as is in his power; these are the keystones on which all the rest depend, on these my own ideas rest, and this is serving God.”
― Lewis Gompertz, Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes

“It is strange that philosophers first show how one animal supports itself by destroying another, and then enter into discussions on the apparent admirable order of things in their present state. But though this may be a necessary contrivance, and the only way in which life can be supported, it can never be a beautiful one, in our short sights, notwithstanding that something worse might be, were this not the case.”
― Lewis Gompertz, Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes

“It is strange that persons who would shudder at the idea of even seeing a human being flogged, think nothing of witnessing or even inflicting themselves the like punishment on dumb animals. They seem to think it of no importance, because they are used to it; and truly do they suffer every day and continually, what we should think a severe trial for half an hour.”
― Lewis Gompertz, Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes

“I must begin by observing that there are two circumstances to which our inattention to those things we ought to know is in most cases to be attributed: the first is want of information, and the second is too much information, so that, in becoming familiar to the thing, our senses cease to be affected by it.”
― Lewis Gompertz, Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes