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Full Idea
A bare minimum of metaphysical belief about the self is found to be absolutely presupposed in the very idea of morality.
Gist of Idea
Morality requires a minimum commitment to the self
Source
Hastings Rashdall (Theory of Good and Evil [1907], II.III.I.4)
Book Ref
'The Existence of God', ed/tr. Hick,John [Macmillan 1964], p.146
A Reaction
This may not be true of virtue theory, where we could have a whole creature which lacked any sense of personhood, but yet had clear virtues and vices in its social functioning. Even if choices are central to morality, that might not need a self.
| 20742 | The real subject is ethical, not cognitive [Kierkegaard] |
| 1457 | Morality requires a minimum commitment to the self [Rashdall] |
| 4002 | My aim is to map the connections between our sense of self and our moral understanding [Taylor,C] |
| 4363 | The word 'person' is useless in ethics, because what counts as a good or bad self-conscious being? [Hursthouse] |