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469 BCE
Socrates (469-399 BC)
- Was a classical Greek (Athenian) philosopher who is considered to be one of the Founders of Western Philosophy.
- First Great Moral Philosopher of Western Civilization
- He developed the Socratic method that laid the groundwork for the development of Western systems of Logic and Philosophy.
- "Wonder is the feeling of a Philosopher, and Philosophy begins in Wonder."
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428 BCE
Plato (428-348 BC)
- Ancient Greek Philosopher who founded the Academy in Athens.
- He is widely considered as the pivotal figure in the development of Western Philosophy.
- He sustains a virtue-based eudaemonistic conception of ethics.
- "A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers."
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384 BCE
Aristotle (384-322 BC)
- He is an Ancient Greek Philosopher and Scientist who established the Lyceum.
- Father of Western Philosophy, alongside Plato
- He is widely known for The Golden Mean Principle which signifies that happiness is obtained through living a life of moderation.
- "He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander."
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354
Augustine (354-430)(AD)
- A fourth century Roman African philosopher whose phenomenal philosophy incorporated Christian Doctrine with Neoplatonism.
- He is a renowned theologian and prolific writer, as well as a skilled preacher and rhetorician.
- He is one of the Latin Fathers of the Church and is recognized as well as the Doctor of the Church in Roman Catholicism.
- "Patience is the companion of wisdom."
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1225
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
- He was considered as the Greatest of the Scholastic Philosophers.
- He was an immensely influential philosopher, jurist, and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, wherein he is also known as the Doctor Angelicus and the Doctor Communis.
- Based on his views, economic transactions, as human interactions, cannot be separated from ethics.
- "Love takes up where knowledge leaves off."
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Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
- Was considered as the First Great figure in Modern Moral Philosophy.
- His theory was Moral Positivism wherein it holds that the basis or source of all moral laws is the laws of the State.
- His main concern was the problem of social and political order : how human beings can live together in peace and harmony, and avoid the fear and danger of civil conflict.
- "It is not wisdom but authority that makes a law."
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Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
- Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher and is considered as one of the foremost thinkers of the Enlightenment.
- He argued that there was a supreme principle of morality which he refers to as The Categorical Imperative, wherein it determines our moral duties.
- His Metaphysics of Morals has two distinct parts: the Doctrine of Right and the Doctrine of Virtue.
- "Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life."
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Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)
- He was an English philosopher and political radical.
- He was also an economist, jurist, and legal reformer.
- He was considered as the Father of Modern Utilitarianism, a moral theory that argues that actions should be judged right or wrong to the extent they increase or decrease human well-being or utility.
- "The said truth is that the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong."
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John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
- He was the most influential English philosopher of the 19th century.
- He was a classical utilitarian alongside with Jeremy Bentham.
- His ethical theory is mostly articulated in his classical text Utilitarianism (1861), wherein Its goal is to justify the utilitarian principle as the foundation of morals.
- "Originality is the one thing which unoriginal minds cannot feel the use of."
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John Rawls (1921-2002)
- He was an American legal, moral, and political philosopher in the liberal tradition.
- He is prominently known for his defense of egalitarian liberalism in his works.
- Rawls's theory of justice as fairness suggests equal basic liberties, equal opportunities, and facilitating the maximum benefit to the least advantaged members of society, in which inequalities may occur.
- "The principles of justice are chosen behind a veil of ignorance."