How we cite our quotes: Section.Part (if applicable).Paragraph
Quote #10
By the laws of society, this coat, this horse is mine, and ought to remain perpetually in my possession [...] by depriving me of it, you disappoint my expectations, and doubly displease me, and offend every bystander [...] What injures the community, without hurting any individual, is often more lightly thought of. But where the greatest public wrong is also conjoined with a considerable private one, no wonder the highest disapprobation attends so iniquitous a behaviour. (AIII.11)
Hume makes it clear throughout his enquiry that public harm is looked down on: when individuals act in a way that's not good for society, they're given a slap on the wrist. But this doesn't mean that the individual doesn't matter. If someone's suffering, we don't just think "oh well, they're only one person. Who cares?" Where public harm is accompanied by individual suffering, we feel all the more angry (and you won't like us when we're angry).