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He was born in 551 BCE and was a student of the Daoist Master, Lao Tzu. Confucianism is centered around balance, people are put into society and they all have their place. The core beliefs are etiquette, love for the family, righteousness, honesty, loyalty, and humaneness. The impact of Confucius' teaching has been very great on China's history. Until now the same values of respecting traditions and love for the family can still be seen. -
He was a very polarizing figure until the time of his death, he was put on trial for corrupting the youth and thus sentenced to death. He refused any offer to attempt escape. "I only know that I know nothing." is his most famous quote, he believed that there will always be a pursuit of more knowledge, and to think that a single man can know everything is ignorant. He believed that no person is willingly evil. To be good, a person must understand what is good and what isn't. -
Plato was another famous Greek philosopher from Athens and was actually a student of Socrates. Plato grew up in an affluent and aristocratic family. Plato believed that happiness is the highest moral aim and virtues are a skill required to attain that happiness. He also believed that man's physical senses were deceitful and should not be trusted, our body changes and decays, therefore, it is not real but our soul does not change therefore it is real. -
Born on April 5, 1588, in Malmesbury, United Kingdom, Thomas Hobbes was not only an ethical philosopher but well known for political philosophy and mathematics. Hobbes believed that the natural state of things was to be at war with each other. He described the natural state to be living in as in "constant fear and danger of violent death". He stated that the way to achieve peace is by mutually agreeing to give up our rights to harm each other. -
He was born on 20 May 1806 and Stuart Mill proponent of utilitarianism, an ethical theory developed by his predecessor Jeremy Bentham. In utilitarian theory, the morality of an action is determined by its usefulness to people. It recognizes the fundamental role of pain and pleasure in the lives of people.