Single Idea 2173

[catalogued under 22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / j. Ethics by convention]

Full Idea

Once gods and fate and social expectation were no longer there, Plato felt it necessary to discover ethics inside human nature, not just as ethical knowledge (Socrates' view), but in the structure of the soul.

Gist of Idea

As religion and convention collapsed, Plato sought morals not just in knowledge, but in the soul

Source

comment on Plato (works [c.375 BCE]) by Bernard Williams - Shame and Necessity II - p.43

Book Reference

Williams,Bernard: 'Shame and Necessity' [California 1994], p.43


A Reaction

anti Charles Taylor