Of Refinement in the Arts (1777) [ Concepts ]
… a word of an uncertain signification, and may be taken in a good as well as in a bad sense. In general, it means great refinement in the gratification of the senses; and any degree of it may be innocent or blameable, according to the age, … to civil government. We shall here endeavour to correct both these extremes, by proving, first , that the ages of refinement are both the happiest and most virtuous; secondly , that wherever luxury ceases to be innocent, it also … perhaps not the most pernicious, to political society. To prove the first point, we need but consider the effects of refinement both on private and on public life. Human happiness, according to the most received notions, seems to …
Commerce | Refinement | Luxury | Charity | Corruption | Democracy | Disorder | Happiness
Anthology