Major Ethical Philosophers

SOCRATES (469-399 BC)

399 BCE

• Socrates was a Greek philosopher whose Socratic method laid the groundwork for Western systems of logic and philosophy.
•“THE ART OF MEASUREMENT” – Socrates believed that people only did wrong when at the moment the perceived benefits seemed to outweigh the costs.
•“No one commits an evil act knowingly and doing wrong arises out of ignorance.”

PLATO (428-348 BC)

348 BCE

•Ancient Greek Philosopher Plato founded the Academy and is the author of Philosophical works of
◀ unparalleled influence in Western thought.
•Plato upholds a virtue-based eudaemonistic conception of ethics. In which, he believes that “only by being virtuous that we can hope to be happy”.
•Prudence, Courage, Temperance, Justice
•“Better a little which is well done, than a great deal imperfectly”

ARISTOTLE (384-322 BC)

322 BCE

•Aristotle was an Ancient Greek Philosopher and scientist.
◀ • Aristotle believed that wisdom was virtuous, but achieving virtue was neither automatic nor did it grant
any unification of other virtues.
•“THE GOLDEN MEAN PRINCIPLE” – To be happy, live a life of moderation.
•“All human actions have one or more these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire.”

THOMAS HOBBES (1588-1679)

1588

• Thomas Hobbes was the first great figure in modern moral philosophy.
•His theory is Moral Positivism. This theory holds that the basis/source of all moral laws is the laws of the State.
•“Good is that which is an accordance of the laws of the State; bad is which is forbidden by the State.”

IMMANUEL KANT (1724-1804)

1724

• He believed that there was a supreme principle of morality, and he referred to it as “The Categorical Imperative”. The CI determines what our moral duties are.
•His ethical theory is an example of deontological moral theory – according to these theories, “the rightness or wrongness of action does not depend on their consequence” but on whether they fulfil our duty.

JEREMY BENTHAM (1748-1832)

1748

•Bentham was an English philosopher, economist, jurist and legal reformer.
•He is the founder of modern utilitarianism or (Consequence-based Theory, a theory about ethical action and a proposed method for deciding how one should choose the right ethical act.

JOHN STUART MILL (1806-1873)

1806

• John Stuart Mill was an English philosopher.
•He was a classical utilitarian alongside with Jeremy Bentham.
•His ethical theory is most extensively articulated in his classical text Utilitarianism (1861). Its goal is to justify the utilitarian principle as the foundation of morals. This principle says actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote overall human happiness.

JOHN RAWLS (1921-2002)

1921

•John Rawls was an ethical philosopher, best known for his defense of egalitarian liberalism in his work,
◀ “A Theory of Justice” (1971) that defends “justice as fairness”.
•“Each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty for others”
•“Social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they both (a) reasonably expected to be everyone’s advantage (b) attached to positions and offices open to all…”