Timeline of Major Ethical Philosophies

By shaiii_02
  • 469 BCE

    SOCRATES (469-399BC)

    SOCRATES (469-399BC)
    -Socrates was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought.
    -He believed that people only did wrong when the perceived benefits outweighed the costs.
    -“No one commits an evil act knowingly, and doing wrong arises out of ignorance.”
  • 428 BCE

    PLATO (428-348 BC)

    PLATO (428-348 BC)
    -Plato was an Ancient Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece.
    -He believed that moral values are objective in the sense that they exist in a spirit-like realm beyond subjective human conventions.
    -His main concern was to challenge the common perception of goodness.
    -For him, virtue is neither a minor good nor an impediment to living a happy life.
    -It is only by being virtuous that we can hope to be happy.
  • 384 BCE

    ARISTOTLE (384-322 BC)

    ARISTOTLE (384-322 BC)
    -Aristotle was an Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath.
    -His ethics are concerned with action, not with right action in and of itself, but with actions that are beneficial to man.
    -His principle, “The Golden Mean Principle,” states that to be happy, live a life of moderation.
    -Example: excessive profit leads to greed, and a lack of profit leads to bankruptcy.

  • UTILITARIANISM

    UTILITARIANISM
    -Utilitarianism is a philosophical tradition associated with Jeremy Bentham (1747-1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), two late-eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British philosophers.
    -Its ethics are explained as, “do whatever produces the greatest good for the greatest number.”
    -It contends that what makes an act right are its consequences, not the motivation for the act.
    -Its principle is used in Cost-Benefit Analysis and resolution of Labor-Management conflicts.

  • MORAL POSITIVISM (EARLY 1900s)

    MORAL POSITIVISM (EARLY 1900s)
    -Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), was an English philosopher.
    -He believes that humans are fundamentally selfish creatures who will go to any length to advance their status.
    -“People would act on their evil impulses if left alone for themselves; therefore, they
    should not be trusted to make decisions on their own.”
    -His moral positivism predicts a chaotic outcome if laws are not followed.
    --An example of moral positivism in business applications is adherence to laws & regulations.