Major Ethical Philosophies

John Stuart Mill - (1806-1873 BC)

1873 BCE

• The English philosopher, economist, and exponent of utilitarianism. He was prominent as a publicist in the reforming age of the 19th century, and remains of lasting interest as a logician and an ethical theorist.
• Its goal is to justify the utilitarian principle as the foundation of morals. This principle says actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote overall human happiness.

UTILITARIANISM- (1863)

1861 BCE

• Utilitarianism is a tradition of ethical philosophy that is associated with Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.
• The theory argues that what makes an act right is its consequences and not the motive of the action.
• Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that determines right from wrong by focusing on outcomes. It is a form of consequentialism. It holds that the most ethical choice is the one that will produce the greatest good for the greatest number.

Jeremy Bentham - (1748-1832 BC)

1832 BCE

• He is primarily known today for his moral philosophy, especially his principle of utilitarianism, which evaluates actions based upon their consequences.
• 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.

Thomas Hobbes - (1588-1679 BC)

1679 BCE

• He was the first great figure in modern moral philosophy. His main grounding in philosophy was on the basis of materialism, believing that everything that happens is a result of the physical world and that the soul, as previous philosophers discussed it, does not exist.
• Hobbes's moral thought is difficult to disentangle from his politics. For him ethics is concerned with human nature, while political philosophy deals with what happens when human beings interact.

Socrates - (469-399 BC)

469 BCE

• Known as the “Father of Western Philosophy.”
• Socrates' most important contribution to Western philosophy , also known as the Socratic technique, which he applied to many things such as truth and justice.
• Socrates equated knowledge with virtue, which ultimately leads to ethical conduct. He believed that the only life worth living was one that was rigorously examined. He looked for principles and actions that were worth living by,creating an ethical base upon which decisions should be made.

PLATO - (428-348 BC)

428 BCE

• Student of Socrates, and a teacher of Aristotle.
• Studied ethics, virtue, justice, and other ideas relating to human behavior.
• Building on the demonstration by Socrates that those regarded as experts in ethical matters did not have the understanding necessary for a good human life, Plato introduced the idea that their mistakes were due to their not engaging properly with a class of entities he called forms, chief examples of which were Justice, Beauty, and Equality.

Aristotle - (384-322 BC)

384 BCE

• He was a student of Plato for twenty years.
• He emphasized that virtue is practical, and that the purpose of ethics is to become good, not merely to know. He also claims that the right course of action depends upon the details of a particular situation, rather than being generated merely by applying a law.
• He argues that a person can achieve a life of fulfilling happiness. The ideal polis as described in the Politics serves as a place where the virtuous life is attained in the best manner.