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Full Idea
No one thinks that calling a knife a good knife, a farmer a good farmer, a speech a good speech, a root a good root, necessarily expresses or even involves an attitude or feeling towards it.
Gist of Idea
Calling a knife or farmer or speech or root good does not involve attitudes or feelings
Source
Philippa Foot (Rationality and Virtue [1994], p.163)
Book Ref
Foot,Philippa: 'Moral Dilemmas' [OUP 2002], p.163
A Reaction
This is the Aristotelian idea (which I favour) that good derives from function. In such a case it seems obvious that it has nothing to do with expressing emotions.
Related Idea
Idea 22478 The essential thing is the 'needs' of plants and animals, and their operative parts [Foot]
| 22477 | Calling a knife or farmer or speech or root good does not involve attitudes or feelings [Foot] |
| 22478 | The essential thing is the 'needs' of plants and animals, and their operative parts [Foot] |
| 22479 | Observing justice is necessary to humans, like hunting to wolves or dancing to bees [Foot] |
| 22480 | Possessing the virtue of justice disposes a person to good practical rationality [Foot] |