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The first ethical precepts must have been passed down by word of mouth from parents and elders, but as societies learned to use the written word, they began to set down their ethical beliefs. These records constitute the first historical evidence of the origins of ethics.
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Unlike the ethical teachings of ancient Egypt and Babylonia, Indian ethics was philosophical from the start. In the oldest of the Indian writings, the Vedas, ethics is an integral aspect of philosophical and religious speculation about the nature of reality.
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The two greatest moral philosophers of ancient China, Laozi (flourished c. 6th century BCE) and Confucius (Kongfuzi, or Kongzi;), thought in very different ways. Laozi is best known for his ideas about the Dao (literally “Way,” the Supreme Principle).
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