The Good of a Plant

Philippa Foot argued that goodness is not a mystery but is tied to what living things need. A plant with strong roots and enough water is a good plant. An oak that cannot take up water is a poor one. We judge by the kind of thing it is and what that kind needs.

She extended the idea to people. Humans need food and shelter, but also friendship, courage, honesty and justice, because we live together and depend on one another. A person without those virtues is defective as a human, like a deer that cannot run.

Critics ask whether “what humans need” is as clear as “what oaks need”, since people disagree about how to live. Foot’s point is that the question is a factual one about human life, and it can be argued from evidence.

The wilting oak

A schoolyard oak is wilting. The gardener checks the roots, finds them cut by a trench, and calls it a poor tree for now, because it cannot do what oaks do. He restores the soil and watches it recover.

A teacher uses the oak to ask her class what humans need to do well. They list food, sleep and teachers, and then, after some debate, friendship and honesty. They agree that a person who lies to everyone is like the oak with cut roots.

Try this today Name one habit that your kind needs in order to do well, and one that works against it.