Moral Beliefs By Phillipa Foot Summary

In Phillipa Foot’s article, Moral Beliefs she goes through a lot of discussion and thinking to answer the statement “a great deal hangs on the question whether justice is or is not a good to the just man” (101). This discussion begins with Foot attempting to refute two assumptions about ‘evaluations.’ According to Foot, assumption (1) is the view that one can commend or express his pro-attitude towards a man clasping and unclasping his hands (85). In assessing assumption (1) we question the meaning of the word ‘good’ and the elements it withholds. Foot argues that the term ‘good’ has nothing laid down but the evaluative meaning is ‘internally’ related to its objects. She describes her point by saying how one cannot hold their belief that

Since we can all suffer from each other’s injustices, humans create a social contract agreeing to be just to one another to keep everyone in check. Justice is not something we practice for its own sake but something one engages in out of fear and weakness. He uses the example of the ring of Gyges to prove his point. Glaucon claims, that even the most just man would behave unjustly if he had this ring (359d). This tale proves that people are just only because they are afraid of the punishment and not that justice is desirable in itself. Following this, Plato states that “justice is only a social contract” and is to the advantage of the strong (362b). However, Socrates proves that justice is the best sort of good like

She states that justice is treated like one of the cardinal virtues and covers all the things that are owed to people. This can be seen in Socrates’ example where he explains about justice. Foot continues on about how man who avoids injustice will find themselves unable to obtain an advantage by cheating and lying which can be seen described by Thrasymachus in the first book of the Republic, in order to show that injustice is more profitable than justice to a man of strength and wit (99). As Foot continues, she states that we should consider the possibility that justice is not a virtue if justice cannot be answered as to whether they need the use of their hands and eyes, or needs prudence, courage and temperance. This suggestion was taken by Socrates in the Republic, where it was assumed that if Thrasymachus had established his hypothesis more firmly that injustice was more profitable than justice, his conclusion would’ve been that “man who had the strength to get away with injustice had reason to follow this as the best way of life”