The Problem of dikaiosýne and The Origin of Ethics
Keywords:
ethics, Plato, immoralism, rectitude, virtueAbstract
My purpose here is to show, against dominant interpretations, that the origin of Ethics as a philosophical discipline lies in what I call 'the problem of dikaiosunê', or 'moral rectitude'. The recognition in the 5th century BC of dikaiosunê as a moral virtue central to human life conflicts with the eudaimonistic framework accepted by several intellectuals of the 5th century, because dikaiosunê is a source of normative requirements independent of self-interest (i.e. of one's own eudaimonia). Faced with this conflict, only two alternative resolutions emerge: the solution of the immoralists, which denies dikaiosunê the status of a moral virtue, and that of the moralists, who admit such status and attempt to integrate this virtue into the eudaimonistic framework. Plato's ethics, commonly considered the father of Ethics, is just one piece of this puzzle.
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