Timeline of Major Ethical Philosophies

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  • Period: 384 BCE to 322 BCE

    Aristotle

    A student of Plato who was one of the founders of Western Philosophy.
  • The Ethics of Aristotle: Virtue Theory
    350 BCE

    The Ethics of Aristotle: Virtue Theory

    Aristotle believed that every virtue resides somewhere between the vices of defect and excess.
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    Immanuel Kant

    The sage of Konigsberg in Prussia, he taught philosophy at the University of Konigsberg for several years.
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    Jeremy Bentham, 1748-1832 & John Stuart Mill, 1806-1873

    Bentham was an attorney and became what we would today call a consultant to the British Parliament. Mill was a leader of the second utilitarian.
  • The Ethics of Bentham and Mill: Utilitarianism

    The Ethics of Bentham and Mill: Utilitarianism

    Utilitarianism as an ethical system today, though it has application to many areas beyond that simply of lawmaking, holds to the same principle.
  • The Ethics of Kant: Deontology

    The Ethics of Kant: Deontology

    Deontology is the radical opposite of utilitarianism in that it holds that the consequences of moral decision are of no matter whatsoever.
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    John Rawls

    Though Rawls considered himself to be a utilitarian, he also acknowledged that his moral philosophy owed much to the social contract tradition represented over the past few centuries by John Locke and David Hume, among others.
  • The Ethics of John Rawls: Justice Theory

    The Ethics of John Rawls: Justice Theory

    Ralws insisted that human justice must be centered on a firm foundation comprising a first and second principle.