While the author probably had no intention of subverting morality, his views of human nature were seen by his critics as cynical and degraded. Another of his works, "A Search into the Nature of Society" (1723), appended to the later versions of the "Fable", also startled the public mind, which his last works, "Free Thoughts on Religion" (1720) and "An Enquiry into the Origin of Honour and the Usefulness of Christianity" (1732) did little to reassure. The work in which he approximates most nearly to modern views is his account of the origin of society. His "a priori" theories should be compared with the jurist Henry Maine's historical inquiries ("Ancient Law"). He endeavours to show that all social laws are the crystallised results of selfish aggrandizement and protective alliances among the weak. Denying any form of moral sense or conscience, he regards all the social virtues as evolved from the instinct for self-preservation, the give-and-take arrangements between the partners in a defensive and offensive alliance, and the feelings of pride and vanity artificially fed by politicians, as an antidote to dissension and chaos.