Single Idea 7569

[catalogued under 22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / g. Moral responsibility]

Full Idea

For Leibniz, it is by virtue of possessing memory and self-consciousness that human minds are moral beings, capable of reward and punishment.

Gist of Idea

Humans are moral, and capable of reward and punishment, because of memory and self-consciousness

Source

report of Gottfried Leibniz (works [1690]) by Nicholas Jolley - Leibniz Ch.4

Book Reference

Jolley,Nicholas: 'Leibniz' [Routledge 2005], p.98


A Reaction

I like this because it makes no mention of free will (though Leibniz struggled to defend free will). I would add meta-thought (the ability to ponder and evaluate our own thinking), which makes a change of mind possible.