Sunday, September 26, 2021

The Definition of Morality

 In Chapter 6 of the Republic Socrates defines morality in terms of the proper functioning of the mind.  He states that "[i]ts sphere is a person's inner activity; it is really a matter of oneself and the parts of oneself"(443d). A person is moral if and only if the parts of her mind work together and the rational part guides and directs the other parts.  Given such a definition, Socrates proceeds to show that such a mind is healthy and a disordered mind leads to unhappiness.  Yet is Socrates' definition of morality correct?  Is that definition close to your working definition of morality?  If he fails, where or how does he fail?  Is the connection between morality and mental health as tight as Socrates argues?

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