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Full Idea
Being a good father, or daughter, or friend seems to depend on one's intentions, rather than on such things as cleverness and strength.
Gist of Idea
Being a good father seems to depend on intentions, rather than actual abilities
Source
Philippa Foot (Goodness and Choice [1961], p.138)
Book Ref
Foot,Philippa: 'Virtues and Vices' [Blackwell 1981], p.138
A Reaction
Not sure about that. In wartime a good father might need to be actually brave, and in times of hardship be actually economically successful. 'He meant well, but he was a hopeless father'?
| 5838 | A well-made dung basket is fine, and a badly-made gold shield is base, because of function [Socrates, by Xenophon] |
| 2094 | A thing's function is what it alone can do, or what it does better than other things [Plato] |
| 2095 | If something has a function then it has a state of being good [Plato] |
| 33 | Each named function has a distinctive excellence attached to it [Aristotle] |
| 23909 | Wearing a shoe is its intrinsic use, and selling it (as a shoe) is its coincidental use [Aristotle] |
| 398 | Each thing that has a function is for the sake of that function [Aristotle] |
| 15772 | A thing's active function is its end [Aristotle] |
| 22381 | Being a good father seems to depend on intentions, rather than actual abilities [Foot] |
| 3505 | The function of a heart depends on what we want it to do [Searle] |