ABSTRACT
David Hume's general theory of morals is mainly concerned with explicating moral good and bad, virtue and vice. The imperfection, of which the non-performance of an obligation is a sign, is thus a quality which is subject to a certain kind of displeasure, namely a displeasure which is similar to the pleasure which accompanies our perception of virtue. Natural obligation in the sense of interested motivation is closely akin to Hobbes's idea of natural obligation: to have an obligation is to be obliged, i.e. urged by natural passions to do something, without the interference of anything moral. Natural obligation must, therefore, be taken in opposition, not to David Hume, but to moral obligation. The interest involved consists of a regard to the utility of certain kinds of actions, and it is through sympathy with this utility that people moral evaluations and obligations arise.
