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CHAPTER VIII. 



OF THE GOOD. 



I. 



THE province of philosophical thought with which I 

 propose to deal in this chapter, is one which, more 

 perhaps than any other, has been cultivated by thinkers 

 of this country. If any philosophical science may claim 

 to be called pre-eminently a British science, it is the 

 Science of Ethics; or as it used to be more generally i. 



Ethics a 



termed Morality, in its theoretical and applied aspects. British 

 It is even more so than Political Economy, which, owing 

 mainly to the great name of Adam Smith, is usually 

 considered to have its birthplace and home in this 

 country. But political philosophy or economics formed 

 an important subject of discussion and independent 

 research in France during the age which in Britain 

 produced the works of Hume and Adam Smith. 

 Yet, whereas in France political economy was limited 

 mainly to the discussion of problems suggested by the 

 economic condition of the country, political economy in 

 this country started as a province or a sister science 

 of moral philosophy. It may therefore be said that up 



