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During the 6th century BC, Confucius saw the moral decline that has resulted from the deterioration of Chinese principles. He believed it was his obligation to reinforce the societal values and compassion. He saw a better society where moral principles are based on the Golden Rule, "What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others."
His reciprocity ethics were based on the concept of self-discipline. A leader must set a positive example, remain humble, and treat his people with compassion. -
According to a quotation from him, he was wise because he understood his own ignorance, but ignorant because he had any ideas. He asked questions rather than bragged about his knowledge. The audience is forced to reason through a problem to a logical conclusion using a technique known as dialectic method. Western systems of logic and philosophy are built on the Socratic approach. -
Like most other ancient philosophers, Plato maintains a virtue-based eudaemonistic conception of ethics. That is to say, happiness or well-being (eudaimonia) is the highest aim of moral thought and conduct, and the virtues (aretê: 'excellence') are the dispositions/skills needed to attain it. -
Aristotle believed that knowledge is acquired through interaction with objects, and coined the term "ethics" to describe a branch of knowledge created by his forebears. He argued that knowledge is gained through experience, and ethics can be found in reason and thought as well as conduct. -
Aquinas believes that we should always follow our conscience, even when it is wrong or causes great harm. Since we have no way of knowing whether our consciences are wrong, they are the best guide we have as to what is the moral thing to do. -
He is the most important proponent in philosophical history of deontological, or duty based, ethics. In Kant's view, the sole feature that gives an action moral worth is not the outcome that is achieved by the action, but the motive that is behind the action. -
Jeremy Bentham was a philosopher, economist, jurist, and legal reformer and the founder of modern utilitarianism, an ethical theory holding that actions are morally right if they tend to promote happiness or pleasure (and morally wrong if they tend to promote unhappiness or pain) among all those affected by them -
Stirner argued that ideologies beyond the true self never lead to true self-interest and true freedom. An ethical egoist has a clear idea of what the self 'is' and only then is free to act in a self-interested way. -
Mill defines utilitarianism as a theory based on the principle that "actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness." Mill defines happiness as pleasure and the absence of pain. -
Buber's ethical concept of the demarcation line—to be drawn anew every day between the maximum of good that can be done in a concrete situation and the minimum of evil that must be done in it—calls for an I–Thou relation whenever possible and settles for an I–It relation whenever necessary -
Frankl emphasized that freedom of will is the essence of human existence; it is the inevitable first principle. Human beings ought to act in an ethical and responsible way towards others as well as the demands of life. This “oughtness” within is similar to Kant's moral obligation -
Rawls argued that only under a "veil of ignorance" could human beings reach a fair and impartial agreement (contract) as true equals not biased by their place in society. They would have to rely only on the human powers of reason to choose principles of social justice for their society. -
Cognitive in nature, Kohlberg's theory focuses on the thinking process that occurs when one decides whether a behaviour is right or wrong. Thus, the theoretical emphasis is on how one decides to respond to a moral dilemma, not what one decides or what one actually does.