Various Ethical Philosophers and Their Respective Ethical Philosophies.

Protagoras's Philosophy

411 BCE

Protagoras is best known for his claim that, "Of all things the measure is Man, of the things that are, that they are, and of the things that are not, that they are not" or, in other words, that everything is relative to individual experience, judgement, and interpretation.

Socrates's Philosophy

399 BCE

Socrates believed that philosophy should achieve practical results for the greater well-being of society. He attempted to establish an ethical system based on human reason rather than theological doctrine. Socrates pointed out that human choice was motivated by the desire for happiness. 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.

Plato's Philosophy

348 BCE

In metaphysics Plato envisioned a systematic, rational treatment of the forms and their interrelations, starting with the most fundamental among them (the Good, or the One); in ethics and moral psychology he developed the view that the good life requires not just a certain kind of knowledge. He held that they are 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.
(Racelis, 2017)

Diogenes's Philosophy

323 BCE

Diogenes maintained that all the artificial growths of society were incompatible with happiness and that morality implies a return to the simplicity of nature. So great was his austerity and simplicity that the Stoics would later claim him to be a wise man or "sophos".

Aristotle's Philosophy

322 BCE

Aristotle argued that virtues are good habits that we acquire, which regulate our emotions. For example, in response to a natural feeling of fear, one should develop the virtue of courage, which allows a person to be firm when facing danger or fear. Aristotle further argued that most virtues fall at a mean between extreme character traits. (Fieser, 2003). If one is to be decisive in making decisions, he must use his reasons or seek assistance from reason or support from reason.

Epicurus's Philosophy

270 BCE

The philosophy of Epicurus was a complete and interdependent system, involving a view of the goal of human life (happiness, resulting from absence of physical pain and mental disturbance), an empiricist theory of knowledge (sensations, together with the perception of pleasure and pain, are infallible criteria), a description of nature based on atomistic materialism, and a naturalistic account of evolution, from the formation of the world to the emergence of human societies.

Thomas hobbes's Philosophy

1679

Hobbes concluded that humans were stimulated by "appetite" or movement toward an object, similar to pleasure and "aversion" or movement away from an object, similar to pain. Hobbes's doctrine that human behavior is directed by self-interest is now known as psychological hedonism.