Doing good for the sake of it
in Philosophy ·
Can we really blame someone for being ignorant about what's good, for failing to grasp true goodness, or just plain lacking the desire for it?
I was reading somewhere—though I can't be 100% sure how accurate this is—that Plato cooked up some kind of "island" concept.
Basically, he uses the threat of heaven and hell to scare people who aren't interested in, or even capable of, understanding or practicing true goodness. He suggests that in the end (death), only the philosophers actually make it to the "right" island, aka paradise. But honestly, the whole point of the story seems to be an attempt at social engineering—trying to guilt non-philosophers into doing the right thing just so they don't end up stuck on the other island, which is hell.
I was reading somewhere—though I can't be 100% sure how accurate this is—that Plato cooked up some kind of "island" concept.
Basically, he uses the threat of heaven and hell to scare people who aren't interested in, or even capable of, understanding or practicing true goodness. He suggests that in the end (death), only the philosophers actually make it to the "right" island, aka paradise. But honestly, the whole point of the story seems to be an attempt at social engineering—trying to guilt non-philosophers into doing the right thing just so they don't end up stuck on the other island, which is hell.