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469 BCE
Socrates
Socrates was an Athenian Philosopher whose questions and opinions clashed with the current course of Athenian politics and society. Socrates worked to critically examine the foundational beliefs that were prevalent in Greece at the time, and he encouraged other citizens to do the same. -
Period: 469 BCE to 399 BCE
Socrates
One of the most interesting paradoxes Socrates aided his students in digging deeper was the occurrence of the weakness of will, which is basically pursuing the wrong outcome even if you knew what was right truly existed. As a result, mastering what he referred to as "the art of measurement," or correcting the distortions that skew one's analyses of benefit and cost is critical for personal ethics development. -
428 BCE
Plato
Plato is regarded by many scholars as the most important philosopher of Western civilization and ranks among the world's greatest philosophers. Plato believed that moral values are objective in the sense that they exist outside of subjective human conventions in a spirit-like realm. He believed that they are absolute, or eternal, in the sense that they never change, and that they are universal in the sense that they apply to all rational creatures on the planet and throughout time. -
Period: 428 BCE to 348 BCE
Plato
Since ethics is referred to as a concern to act rightly and live a good life, Plato’s main concern is to challenge the views most people have about goodness, for it is here that they go disastrously wrong in trying to live happy lives. -
384 BCE
Aristotle
Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist who is widely regarded as one of the greatest intellectual figures in Western history. He created a philosophical and scientific system that served as the foundation and vehicle for both Christian Scholasticism and medieval Islamic philosophy. In Arabic philosophy, Aristotle was simply known as "The First Teacher," while in the West, he was known as "The Philosopher." -
Period: 384 BCE to 322 BCE
Aristotle
The ethics of Aristotle is concerned with action, not as
being right in itself irrespective of any other consideration, but
with actions conducive to man’s good. He also claimed that virtues are good habits that we develop in order to regulate our emotions. Aristotle further argued that most virtues fall at a mean between extreme character traits. -
Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham was a philosopher, economist, jurist, and legal reformer who established modern utilitarianism, an ethical theory that holds that actions are morally correct if they tend to promote happiness or pleasure among all those who are affected by them. -
Period: to
Moral Positivism
According to Hobbes, the main idea of moral positivism is that if people are left to their own devices, they will act on their evil impulses; thus, they should not be trusted to make decisions on their own. Hobbes’ moral positivism anticipates the chaotic outcome if laws are not abided. We all believe that the purpose of the government is to protect the rights of its people, preserve justice and enforce the laws. -
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes whose current reputation is based primarily on his political philosophy was a thinker with diverse interests. He defended a variety of materialist, nominalist, and empiricist views against Cartesian and Aristotelian alternatives in philosophy. -
Period: to
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that determines right from wrong by focusing on outcomes. Utilitarianism holds that the most ethical choice is the one that will produce the greatest good for the greatest number.