Major Ethical Philosophies

By Zyrryl Balais
  • 470 BCE

    Virtue Theory: Socrates

    Virtue Theory: Socrates
    "True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us."
  • 428 BCE

    Virtue Theory: Plato

    Virtue Theory: Plato
    "Virtue is a kind of health, beauty, and good habit of the soul."
  • 384 BCE

    Virtue Theory: Aristotle

    Virtue Theory: Aristotle
    "We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly"

  • Deontology: Immanuel Kant

    Deontology: Immanuel Kant
    "Morality is not the doctrine of how we may make ourselves happy, but how we may make ourselves worthy of happiness."

  • Justice Theory: John Rawls

    Justice Theory: John Rawls
    "Certainly it is wrong to be cruel to animals and the destruction of a whole species can be a great evil. The capacity for feelings of pleasure and pain and for the form of life of which animals are capable clearly impose duties of compassion and humanity in their case."