Single Idea 1661

[catalogued under 25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 3. Punishment / b. Retribution for crime]

Full Idea

Socrates was the first Greek to grasp the truth that if someone has done a nasty thing to me, this does not give the slightest moral justification for doing anything nasty to him.

Gist of Idea

Socrates was the first to grasp that a cruelty is not justified by another cruelty

Source

comment on Socrates (reports of career [c.420 BCE]) by Gregory Vlastos - Socrates: Ironist and Moral Philosopher p.190

Book Reference

Vlastos,Gregory: 'Socrates: Ironist and Moral Philosopher' [CUP 1992], p.190