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“Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.” Confucius’ ethics basically asserts that filial piety and fraternal love are the roots of humaneness, the foundation and origin of human morality. Confucianism believes in ancestor worship and human-centered virtues for living a peaceful life. The golden rule of Confucianism is “Do not do unto others what you would not want others to do unto you.” -
"Be as you wish to seem" Socrates identifies knowledge with virtue. If knowledge can be learned, so can virtue. Thus, Socrates states virtue can be taught. He believes “the unexamined life is not worth living.” One must seek knowledge and wisdom before private interests. -
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.” 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. -
“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” By practicing being honest, brave, just, generous, and so on, a person develops an honorable and moral character. According to Aristotle, by honing virtuous habits, people will likely make the right choice when faced with ethical challenges. -
"It is not wisdom but Authority that makes a law" "Hobbes believes that the morals derived from natural law, however, do not permit individuals to challenge the laws of the sovereign; law of the commonwealth supersedes natural law, and obeying the laws of nature does not make you exempt from disobeying those of the government." -
"In law a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others. In ethics he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so." Kant believed that ethical actions follow universal moral laws, such as “Don’t lie. Don’t steal. Don’t cheat.” He believes that people follow the rules and do their duty. This approach tends to fit well with our natural intuition about what is or isn’t ethical. -
"It cannot be precisely known how any thing is good or bad, till it is precisely known what it is." He believed in a moral theory called utilitarianism—that actions that lead to people's happiness are right and that those that lead to suffering are wrong. That "actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness." -
"A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury." 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.