Of Refinement in the Arts (1777) [ Concepts ]
… 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 consist in three ingredients; action, … knowledge, and humanity, are not advantageous in private life alone: They diffuse their beneficial influence on the public , and render the government as great and flourishing as they make individuals happy and prosperous. The encrease … to individuals, they are a kind of storehouse of labour, which, in the exigencies of state, may be turned to the public service. In a nation, where there is no demand for such superfluities, men sink into indolence, lose all enjoyment …
Commerce | Refinement | Luxury | Charity | Corruption | Democracy | Disorder | Happiness
Anthology