Combining Texts

Ideas for 'Precis of 'Limits of Abstraction'', 'The Bhagavad Gita' and 'The Roots of Romanticism'

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23. Ethics / D. Deontological Ethics / 2. Duty
The Greeks have no notion of obligation or duty [Berlin]
     Full Idea: There is an absence among the Greeks of a notion of obligation, and hence of duty, which is difficult to grasp for people who read the Greeks through spectacles partly affected by the jews.
     From: Isaiah Berlin (The Roots of Romanticism [1965], Ch.1)
     A reaction: This doesn't quite fit early section of 'Republic', in which morality is a mutual agreement not to do harm. Presumably the Greek word 'deon' refers to what needs to be done, rather than to anyone's obligation to do it(?). Contracts need duty? Cf. 4133