Single Idea 168

[catalogued under 22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / a. Preconditions for ethics]

Full Idea

Good and evil are meaningless to things that have no soul.

Gist of Idea

To understand morality requires a soul

Source

Plato (Letter Seven [c.352 BCE], 334)

Book Reference

Plato: 'Phaedrus and Letters VII and VIII', ed/tr. Hamilton,Walter [Penguin 1973], p.127

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A Reaction

That is presumably psuché, and hence includes plants. Soulless things can still function well, but obviously that is not 'meaningful' to them.