Timeline of Major Ethical Philosophies

Socrates

469 BCE

According to Socrates, “no one commits an evil act knowingly and doing wrong arises
out of ignorance.” A person will commit only moral evil if he lacks moral knowledge. He identifies “knowledge” with “virtue”. He believes that if knowledge can be learned, so can virtue. Thus, Socrates states virtue can be taught. He believes “the unexamined life is not worth living.”

Plato

428 BCE

For Plato, it is only by being virtuous that we can hope to be happy. He maintains a virtue-based eudaemonistic conception of ethics which means that eudaimonia (‘happiness’, ‘flourishing’, or ‘well-being’) is the primary focus of moral thought and conduct, and the virtues are the requisite skills needed to attain it.

Aristotle

384 BCE

Aristotle’s “The Golden Mean Principle” states that we should live a life in moderation in order to be happy. This principle can also be applied to business ethics for profit, for example, too much profit results to greed, no profit results to bankruptcy. In addition to that, Aristotle's philosophy proclaims that businesses are self-created mini-societies geared to one goal, which in turn serves larger goals, which in turn serve the state and society as a whole.

Epicurus

341 BCE

Epicurus taught that the aim of life was simply to be as happy as possible here on Earth. He warned that humans are very bad at being happy, and very good at inventing reasons to be miserable. Today, some companies are embracing Epicurus' philosophy. Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, is so committed to this that he sold the company to Amazon on the agreement it would be able to continue with its unique happy culture.

Rufus

25

Musonius Rufus was taught that philosophy cannot just be theoretical. If you want to be an ethical individual, you can't just study ethics, you have to practise it. In organisational terms, keeping track of our progress means trying to take an evidence-based assessment of our performance. We might say we're a green company, but how do we know? We can keep track of this by asking our employees how worthwhile they feel their job is. Then see if we have managed to enhance their sense of purpose.

Plutarch

46

Plutarch understood that humans are incredibly social creatures, who constantly observe the people around them and imitate them. That's what Plutarch tried to do with his famous work, Parallel Lives, to ba a good role model.Your employees will watch how you behave, how you treat others, how you cope with pressure and whether you follow through on your promises. And they will imitate you. If you talk about ethics and then cut corners at the first opportunity, they will follow your lead.

Epictetus

50

We can control our thoughts, beliefs and attitudes, but not other people's perceptions, the weather, and the past. Focus on what you can control, and you will feel a measure of autonomy even in chaotic situations. We can learn this resilient thinking to make our organization and employees more capable of reacting to crisis. The environment may be worsening, the economy may be double-dipping. Focus on doing what you can, on the practical steps you can take to improve the situation.

Thomas Hobbes

1588

Hobbes' contention was that the concept of good and evil are related to human desire and aversion due to self protection. In his famous work, Leviathan, he explained that if individuals within a society continally lived by their own self interests, they would continue to hurt each other and be stuck in a "state of war." With this social contract established, the sovereign power would accept the responsibility for mediating all disputes concerning the society, both internal and external.

Immanuel Kant

1724

Kant cited the importance of purity and motive. An action is only moral if it is not contaminated by motives of self-interest. Since the good acts of even the most enlightened corporations are almost always justified in part on the grounds that such actions are profitable, it may appear that even the best actions of the best corporations are not truly moral.

Jeremy Bentham

1748

He is the founder of modern utilitarianism. Bentham defined as the "fundamental axiom" of his philosophy the principle that "it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong."