Development of Western Ethics

Ancient period: Socrates is a most remarkable moral philosopher of ancient Greece who taught youths
ethics of Athens. He felt that that the pursuit of and love of the good should be the chief aim of
education because the good gives knowledge and virtue. His famous remark is ‘virtue is knowledge’ and
‘knowledge is virtue’. He also taught the youths- what is justice? What is piety?

Plato tells us that it is better to suffer injustice than to do it. According to him a just soul is better than an
unjust soul. And by just soul he means a soul which is governed by reason, and an unjust soul is
governed by appetite.

Aristotle’s ethics is based on eudaimonia which means happiness. According to him, happiness is the
highest good. He is the pioneer of virtue ethics. He believes that the person who lives a life of virtue can
expect to achieve happiness.

Epicureans say that the greatest good is pleasure, especially mental pleasure. But Stoics taught that
greatest good is not pleasure but reason. Hence they praised the life of reason.

Medieval ethics: It is mainly based on plato and Aristotelian ethics, but also on the teachings of various
religions like Christian and Islamic believes. Honor your father and mother, you should not kill, you
should not commit adultery, you should not steal, love your neighbors etc. are the common ethical
teachings of religion.

Modern ethics: This period’s ethics is mainly divided into two types- deontological theory and
teleological theory. According to deontological theory rightness/wrongness of an actions depends on
the nature and intention of the action. Immanuel Kant is a famous deontologist. He says that we should
behave in such a way so that we can make it a universal law. On the other hand, according to
teleological theory rightness of an action depends on its consequence. Utilitarianism is the most
discussed teleological theory and Bentham and Mill are the pioneers of it.

Contemporary ethics: It is also called twentieth century ethics. The development of meta-ethics and
practical ethics happened in this period. The function of meta-ethics is to clary the meaning of ethical
terms like good, bad, right and wrong, see the justification of moral judgements and moral standards,
explore the function of moral judgements, and see the relation between fact and value. Moore, Ayer,
Hare, Searle and Hume are some important meta-ethicist. Practical ethics is the most recent
development ethics. Medical, engineering, professional, business and environmental ethics are the
important branches of practical ethics.