Various Ethical Philosophers and their Respective Ethical Philosophies

JEAN-FRANÇOIS LYOTARD (1924–1998)

1924 BCE

French philosopher Jean-François Lyotard once said, "Scientific knowledge is a type of speech." Often to his dismay, The Postmodern Condition from 1979 is his most well-known work. Lyotard maintained that events constantly take place in the face of what is not presentable to a phenomenology, discourse, language game, or phrase regimen, starting with his early work on phenomenology and continuing through Discourse, Figure, Libidinal Economy, and The Postmodern Condition.

GEORG WILHELM FRIEDRICH HEGEL (1770–1831)

1770 BCE

Hegel was a German philosopher and the leading proponent of German idealism. He described himself as "too fair to adore, too heavenly to love." Hegel essentially believes that human civilizations develop in a similar manner to how an argument might. Furthermore, he held the view that we only have access to our minds' notions of the world—images, perceptions, and concepts—and that we do not directly perceive the world or anything in it.

IMMANUEL KANT (1724–1804)

1724 BCE

“Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.” Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. He argues that the human understanding is the source of the general laws of nature that structure all our experience; and that human reason gives itself the morallaw, which is our basis for belief in God, freedom, and immortality. Kant's comprehensive and systematic works have made him one of the most influential figures in modern Western philosophy.

THOMAS HOBBES (1588–1679)

1588 BCE

“Words are the money of fools.” Hobbes is best known for his political thought, and deservedly so. His main concern is the problem of social and political order: how human beings can live together in peace and avoid the danger and fear of civil conflict. From a positivist view, laws are valid not because they are created in natural law, but because they are enacted by legal authority and are accepted by society as such.

THALES OF MILETUS (620 BC–546 BC)

620 BCE

The prominent pre-Socratic and Ancient Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus once said, "The past is certain, the future unclear." He was recognized historically as one of the mythical Seven Wise Men, or Sophoi, of antiquity. His water-based cosmology, which portrayed Earth as a flat disk floating in a vast sea, is what most people remember him for. Thales' theories were innovative and daring, and by removing supernatural explanations from observations, he helped to advance science.

SOCRATES (469 BC–399 BC)

469 BCE

A life without inquiry is not worth living, as the classical Greek (Athenian) philosopher Socrates famously remarked. His most famous writings are the dialogues of Plato, which have had a considerable influence on the study of ethics and education. He did not profess to personally know virtue, but he believed that virtue could be known and that those who act badly only do so because they are ignorant of or have a false understanding of virtue.

PLATO (428 BC–348 BC)

428 BCE

As the founder of the Academy at Athens, which is recognized as the first university in the Western world, Plato was a philosopher in classical Greece. Plato's philosophy is concerned with how people try to live happy lives, with morality and human fulfillment. He once stated, "Never discourage someone who persistently makes progress, no matter how slow." According to Plato, the wise person employs the mind to understand moral truth and then applies it to her daily activities.

ARISTOTLE (384 BC–322 BC)

384 BCE

One of the most influential philosophers, Aristotle significantly influenced logic, mathematics, ethics, and other fields. Virtues, according to Aristotle, are constructive habits we adopt that govern our emotions. He remarked, "The law is reason, free from passion." In contrast to Plato, he did not view virtues as being merely knowledge. According to him, it should be carried out by acting responsibly and in harmony with nature.