德性就是一种品质,是指任何事物的特长、用处和功能。德性对于人而言视为品质,而对于物而言可视为性质。在休谟以前,西方伦理学家们一般强调德性之“因其自身的缘故”成为人们所普遍追求的意义,即德性的内在善。但是休谟的观点与此不同,他认为德性的真正价值在于它的外在善,即品质对他人或社会的作用。因而他不再把德性之善,仅仅看作“因其自身的缘故”成为人们所普遍追求的东西,而是更喜欢把德性之善看作“因其结果的缘故”成为人们所普遍追求的东西。正因为如此,休谟改变了西方伦理学的传统,把德性之事实判断与价值判断相应地分开,从而把讨论的重点引向了德性之“效用”或“有用”。 Virtue is a quality that refers to the specialty, use, and function of anything. Virtue is regarded as quality to human beings, but can be regarded as a kind to nature. Before Hume, western ethicists generally emphasized that the virtue of “being the cause of oneself” has become the universal pursuit of meaning, that is, the inner goodness of virtue. However, Hume’s point of view is different from this. In his opinion, the real value of virtue lies in its external goodness, that is, the role of quality in other people or society. Therefore, instead of thinking of the good of virtue as merely “what has been universally sought after for his own sake,” he prefers to regard the good of virtue as “because of the result” Become what people generally pursue. It is for this reason that Hume changed the tradition of Western ethics and separated the factual judgment of virtue from that of value judgments, thus leading the discussion to “utility” or “usefulness” of virtue.