urvey of the moral sciences, with a view to
assign the exact place of Political Economy among them; while, on the
other, we consider attentively the nature of the methods or processes by
which the truths which are the object of those sciences are arrived at.

Man, who, considered as a being having a moral or mental nature, is the
subject-matter of all the moral sciences, may, with reference to that
part of his nature, form the subject of philosophical inquiry under
several distinct hypotheses. We may inquire what belongs to man
considered individually, and as if no human being existed besides
himself; we may next consider him as coming into contact with other
individuals; and finally, as living in a state of _society_, that is,
forming part of a body or aggregation of human beings, systematically
co-operating for common purposes. Of this last state, political
government, or subjection to a common superior, is an ordinary
ingredient, but forms no necessary part of the conception, and, with
respect to our present purpose, needs not be further adverted to.

Those laws or properties of human nature which appertain to man as a
mere individual, and do not presuppose, as a necessary condition, the
existence of other individuals (except, perhaps, as mere instruments or
means), form a part of the subject of pure mental philosophy. They
comprise all the laws of the mere intellect, and those of the purely
self-regarding desires.

Those laws of human nature which relate to the feelings called forth in
a human being by other individual human or intelligent beings, as such;
namely, the _affections_, the _conscience_, or feeling of duty, and the
love of _approbation_; and to the conduct of man, so far as it depends
upon, or has relation to, these parts of his nature--form the subject of
another portion of pure mental philosophy, namely, that portion of it on
which _morals_, or _ethics_, are founded. For morality itself is not a
science, but an art; not truths, but rules. The truths on which the
rules are founded are drawn (as is the case in all arts) from a variety
of sciences; but the principal of them, and those which are most nearly
peculiar to this particular art, belong to a branch of the science of
mind.

Finally, there are certain principles of human nature which are
peculiarly connected with the ideas and feelings generated in man by
living in a state of _society_, that is, by forming part of a union or
aggregation of huma