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The ultimate aim of Socrates' philosophical method is always ethical. Socrates believe that if one knows what is good, one will always do what is god. Thus, if one truly understands the meaning of courage, self control or justice, one will act in courageous, self controlled, and just manner. Also, Socrates believe that the life of virtue was always in a person's best interest. He did not think that anyone could be happy in life who was not morally good.
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The difficulties of assessing Plato’s ethical thought are compounded by the fact that the metaphysical underpinnings seem to have changed during his long life. In the Socratic dialogues, there are no indications that the search for virtue and the human good goes beyond the human realm. Plato viewed moral values as absolute,
or eternal, in that they never change, and also that
they are universal insofar as they apply to all rational
creatures around the world and throughout time. -
The Ethics of Aristotle: Virtue Theory In Ethics, where Aristotle laid out the essence of virtue theory, he stated that if we truly desire people to be ethical, then we must have them practice ethics from an early age. In Ethics, Aristotle introduced the concept of the golden mean of moderation. He believed that every virtue resides somewhere between the vices of defect and excess. That is, one can display either too little or too much of a good thing, or a virtue.
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As an ethical system, deontology is the radical opposite of utilitarianism in that it holds that the consequences of a moral decision are of no matter whatsoever. What is important are the motives as to why one has acted in the way that one has. So an action may have beneficial results, but still be unethical if it has been performed for the wrong reasons. Similarly, an action may have catastrophic consequences, but still be deemed moral if it has been done on the basis of the right will.
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Rawls labeled his ethics to be “justice as fairness” with the publication of his "A Theory of Justice." Human justice must be centered on a firm foundation comprising a first and second principle. The first principle declared that “each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with a similar liberty for others.” In the second principle, Rawls labeled the difference principle and the fair equality of opportunity.
