Timeline of Major Ethical Philosophies

  • SOCRATES
    469 BCE

    SOCRATES

    : THE GAD-FLY AT THE MARKETPLACE
    “the unexamined life is not worth living”
  • Period: 469 BCE to 399 BCE

    SOCRATES

    “No one commits an evil act knowingly and doing wrong arises out of ignorance”. He believed that nobody willingly chooses to do wrong so he maintained that doing wrong always harmed the wrongdoer and that nobody seeks to bring harm upon themselves. In this view, all wrongdoings is the result of ignorance. This means that it is impossible for a human being to willingly do wrong because their instinct for self interest prevents them from doing so.
  • PLATO
    428 BCE

    PLATO

    : THE PHILOSOPHER KING
    “Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws”.
  • Period: 428 BCE to 348 BCE

    PLATO

    A lot of people think that virtue is a minor good, or even an impediment to living a happy life. However, he thinks that it is an utterly wrong concept because he said that, “it is only by being virtuous that we can hope to be happy”. This radical claim, one that demands that we reject many things intuitively considered needful for happiness and can on its own seem to reconceive happiness on theoretical grounds.
  • ARISTOTLE
    384 BCE

    ARISTOTLE

    : ALL OR NOTHING
    “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence”.
  • Period: 384 BCE to 322 BCE

    ARISTOTLE

    The “Golden Mean” Principle
    asserts that to be happy, live a life of moderation. This concept holds that virtue or the good is to be found within a balance between extremes. It posits that right thinking and doing cannot occur in the presence of either deficiency or excess. The implication of this is virtually all extremes can be labeled in the very least as incorrect and at the very most as downright evil.
  • THOMAS HOBBES

    THOMAS HOBBES

    : ENGLISH PHILOSOPHER
    “Words are the counters of wise men, and the money of fools”.
  • Period: to

    THOMAS HOBBES

    “Moral Positivism” is the theory that claims there is no natural law, and therefore no such thing as ‘natural right’. All human rights, it holds, are derived from the state, from contracts, from each person’s freedom, or from custom. Furthermore, according to Hobbes, he believes that the morals derived from natural law but doesn’t permit individuals to challenge the laws of the sovereign and obeying the laws of nature does not make you exempted from disobeying those of the government.
  • UTILITARIANISM

    UTILITARIANISM

    : IT IS THE BRAINCHILD OF PHILOSOPHERS JOHN STUART MILL AND JEREMY BENTHAM
    “the end justifies the means”
  • Period: to

    UTILITARIANISM

    “Do whatever produces the greatest good for the greatest number”. It believes that outcomes as a result of an action have a greater value compared to the latter. It also states that the most ethical thing to do is to take advantage of happiness for the good of the society. In addition, the business principle holds the morally right course of action in any situation is the one that produces the greatest balance of benefits over harms for everyone affected.