El problema de la dikaiosýne y el origen de la Ética

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 δικαιοσύνη’, or ‘moral rectitude’. The recognition in the 5th century BC of δικαιοσύνη as a moral virtue central to human life conflicts with the eudaimonistic framework accepted by several intellectuals of the 5th century, because δικαιοσύνη is a source of normative requirements independent of self-interest (i.e. of one’s eudaimonia). Faced with this conflict, only two alternative solutions emerge: the solution of the immoralists, which denies δικαιοσύνη the status of moral virtue, and that of the moralists, which admits such status and attempts to integrate this virtue into the eudaimonistic framework. Plato’s ethics, commonly considered the father of Ethics, is just one piece of this puzzle.