What is the Connection Between Ethics and The Human Soul?

By Linda Fisher Thornton

By Linda Fisher Thornton

Since the human soul is hard to define, we lack a blueprint for how it connects to ethical choices and actions. If you like digging into topics that some people think are difficult to define, read on.

Not everyone believes that humans have souls. Philosophers like Plato and Aristotle did. Many great leaders have believed in the soul. They may not have described it in the same way, but they knew that in some way the soul was an important part of ethical life. We can’t really “see” the soul, but we can seek to understand it by learning about its qualities, functions, and impact on our lives.

Here are some interesting quotes about ethics and the soul that help us understand how they are connected:

The Connection Between Ethics and The Soul

“These virtues are formed in man by his doing the actions … The good of man is a working of the soul in the way of excellence in a complete life.”
Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
Helen Keller

“Even in adversity, nobility shines through, when a man endures repeated and severe misfortune with patience, not owing to insensibility but from generosity and greatness of soul.”
Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics

Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.
Plato

And when great souls die, after a period peace blooms, slowly and always irregularly.
Maya Angelou

There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.
Nelson Mandela

One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.
Carl Jung

If you’re intrigued and want to learn more about theories about the soul through time, you can read more here.