Unit 2 Activity 1

Socrates

469 BCE

“No one performs an evil act intentionally, and doing wrong occurs out of ignorance,” Socrates says. If an individual lacks moral understanding, he can only commit moral evil. Sometimes, even though an individual has intelligence, he willfully commits an evil act to further his secret motive.

Aristotle

384 BCE

Aristotle's ethics is concerned with acts that are conducive to man's good, not with actions that are right in and of themselves, regardless of other considerations. Aristotle sets out to determine what this good is, as well as the research that corresponds to it.

Plato

428

According to Plato, moral values are objective in the sense that they reside outside of arbitrary human norms in a spirit-like world. He believed they are absolute, or eternal, in the sense that they never alter, and universal in the sense that they extend to all logical beings everywhere and at all times.

Moral Positivism (Thomas Hobbes)

1588

Hobbes' moral positivism foresees a disorderly outcome if rules are broken. We all agree that the government's function is to protect citizens' rights, uphold justice, and enforce the law. Every country must have someone in charge of managing and administering it. As a result, the existence of laws and the compliance of their subjects are critical to the order and preservation of peace in countries.

Utilitarianism (Jeremy Bentham)

1889

The rule “Do whatever creates the greatest good for the greatest number” better explains utilitarian ethics. The theory contends that it is the results of an action, not the intent, that determines whether or not it is right. The goodness or badness of an action is determined by its results or consequences.