ABSTRACT
Berkeley recognises the distinction between ‘laws of nature’, in the technical sense of fundamental moral precepts, and ‘laws of nature’ in the modern sense of established regularities of sequence and co-existence among natural phenomena. In order to prove that rebellion is unconditionally wrong Berkeley thinks it necessary and sufficient to show that it is a breach of what he calls a negative ‘ moral rule or law of nature and that all such rules are rigidly binding on everyone at all times and places and under all conditions. Berkeley says that it is generally agreed that there are certain fundamental moral precepts which are unconditionally binding upon all men. Berkeley says that self-love is ‘the most universal’ and the most deeply engraven in the people hearts ‘of all principles. God’s ultimate end for mankind is an eternal state of affairs in which non-moral good and evil are distributed among men in accordance with their moral desert.
