more on this theme     |     more from this thinker


Single Idea 9261

[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / c. Purpose of ethics ]

Full Idea

Reading the 'Ethics' is so disappointing, because Aristotle does not try to convince us that we really ought to do what our non-reflective consciousness has hitherto believed we ought to do.

Gist of Idea

The 'Ethics' is disappointing, because it fails to try to justify our duties

Source

H.A. Prichard (Does moral phil rest on a mistake? [1912])

Book Ref

Prichard,H.A.: 'Moral Writings' [OUP 2002], p.17


A Reaction

Aristotle didn't speak the language of 'duty' (see Idea 2172), but he could work it into his account if Prichard asked nicely. I take the truly virtuous person to be, above all, a wonderful citizen. Duties are contractual; good deeds flow from virtue.

Related Idea

Idea 2172 The modern idea of duty is unknown in archaic Greece [Williams,B]


The 5 ideas from 'Does moral phil rest on a mistake?'

The 'Ethics' is disappointing, because it fails to try to justify our duties [Prichard]
The mistake is to think we can prove what can only be seen directly in moral thinking [Prichard]
Virtues won't generate an obligation, so it isn't a basis for morality [Prichard]
We feel obligations to overcome our own failings, and these are not relations to other people [Prichard]
If pain were instrinsically wrong, it would be immoral to inflict it on ourselves [Prichard]