Major Ethical Philosophies

  • Plato
    428 BCE

    Plato

    Plat held that moral values are objective in the sense that they exist in a spirit-like realm beyond subjectie human conventions
  • Aristotle
    384 BCE

    Aristotle

    He is concerned with action, not as being right in itself irrespective of any other consideration, but with action as conducive to man's good. He argued that virtues are good habits that we acquire, which regulate our emotions.
  • Augustine
    354 BCE

    Augustine

    St. Augustine's ethic has this in common with what one might call the typical Greek ethic; that is, eudaemonistic in character, which proposes an end for human conduct, namely happiness; bbut this happiness is to be found only in God.
  • Thomas Aquinas
    1225

    Thomas Aquinas

    According to Aquinas, perfect happiness, the ultimate end, is not to be found in any created thing, but only in God, who is Himself the supreme and infinite Good.
  • Immanuel Kant

    Immanuel Kant

    Kantian ethics emphasizes a single principle of duty. Influenced by Pufendorf, Kant agreed that we have moral duties to oneself and others, such as developing one's talents, and keeping our promises to others.