I have a question about the case of Soi

Question

In one of the examples in the lesson, the sentence "Il faut toujours aider plus petit que soi" translates as "One must always help those smaller than oneself".  Where do you get the word "those" from?  Shouldn't there be another word between "aider" and "plus"?  Like "les personnes" or something?

Chris Wirt · Accepted Answer

In this sentence "plus petit" is used as a noun and would literally translate as "the smaller (one)". The English translation which carries the same meaning as the French sentence doesn't follow the grammatical structure of the French sentence exactly.
More literally: One must always help the smaller (one) than oneself.

Isabelle Schmidt · Answer

So no article is needed here as in "le plus petit",  la plus petite, or les plus petites?

Mark Pickin · Answer

Accepted, you are using plus petit as a noun, but the question still stands, why are you using a noun without an article.. or is it to avoid confusion with le plus petit meaning the very smallest?

Thy Momo · Answer

I hope Mark's question gets answered because I'm just as confused. Why no article before "plus petit". Is it an idiom or one of those exceptions again?