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470 BCE
SOCRATES
"No one commits an evil act knowingly and doing wrong arises out of ignorance." Socrates was the first person to give philosophy and ethics a realistic and political emphasis. He assimilated knowledge with virtue, which eventually translates to ethical behavior. Socrates believed that if one knows what the good is, one will always do what is good. He also believed that the only life worth living was one that had been rigorously tested.
https://www.theclassroom.com/what-philosopher-4571739.html -
428 BCE
PLATO
"It is only by being virtuous that we can hope to be happy." Plato maintains a eudaemonistic interpretation of ethics focused on virtue. In other words, happiness or well-being (eudaimonia) is the primary goal of moral thinking and behavior, and virtues are the necessary abilities and dispositions required to achieve it.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-ethics/ -
384 BCE
ARISTOTLE
"Virtue is the golden mean between two vices, the one of excess and the other of deficiency."
One of Aristotle's main point of ethical philosophy is moral virtue is a relative mean between extremes of abundance and lack, and, generally speaking, moral life is one of moderation of all things except virtue. No human appetite or desire is evil if it is regulated by reason on the basis of a moral principle.
https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/e/ethics/about-aristotles-ethics -
THOMAS HOBBES
"Government is necessary, not because human is naturally bad but because man is by nature more individualistic than social." From his point of view, what we can do depends very much on the circumstance in which we find ourselves. Where there is a lack of political legitimacy, our constitutional right appears to be to save our skins by whatever means we find fit. Where political authority exists, our obligation appears to be very simple: to respect those in power. http://www.iep.utm.edu/hobmoral/ -
JEREMY BENTHAM
"It is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong." Bentham is the founder of modern utilitarianism, an ethical theory whereby acts are morally acceptable if they tend to encourage happiness or pleasure (and morally wrong if they tend to cause unhappiness or pain) among all those affected by them.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jeremy-Bentham -
JOHN STUART MILL
"Society between equals can only exist on the understanding that the interests of all are to be regarded equally." John Stuart Mill's Ethical Theory is most commonly expressed in the classical text of Utilitarianism (1861). Its intention is to justify the utilitarian theory as the basis of morality. This theory states that acts are correct in proportion as they aim to enhance human happiness as a whole.
https://iep.utm.edu/mill-eth
