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3000 BCE
The ancient Middle East and Asia
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. -
Period: 1500 BCE to 1200 BCE
India
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. -
Period: 551 BCE to 479 BCE
China
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). -
19 BCE
The history of Western ethics Ancient civilizations to the end of the 19th century