Single Idea 5867

[catalogued under 20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 3. Acting on Reason / b. Intellectualism]

Full Idea

Socrates thought that the virtues were all forms of knowledge, and therefore once a man knew justice, he would be a just man.

Gist of Idea

For Socrates, virtues are forms of knowledge, so knowing justice produces justice

Source

report of Socrates (reports of career [c.420 BCE]) by Aristotle - Eudemian Ethics 1216b07

Book Reference

Aristotle: 'Eudemian Ethics I,II and VIII', ed/tr. Woods,Michael [OUP 1992], p.6


A Reaction

The clearest possible statement of Socrates' intellectualism. Aristotle rejected the Socrates view, but I find it sympathetic. Smokers who don't want to die seem to be in denial. To see the victims is to condemn the crime.