Ethics is the branch of philosophy that examines
right and wrong moral behavior, moral concepts
(such as justice, virtue, duty) and moral
language. Various ethical theories pose various
answers to the question "What is the greatest
good?" and elaborate a complete set of proper
behaviors for individuals and groups. Ethical
theories are closely related to forms of life
in various social orders.
== Origins ==
The epic poems that stand at the beginning
of many world literatures, such as the Mesopotamian
Epic of Gilgamesh, Homer's Iliad and the Icelandic
Eddas, portray a set of values that suit the
strong leader of a small tribe. Valour and
success are the principal qualities of a hero,
and are generally not constrained by moral
considerations. Revenge and vendetta are appropriate
activities for heroes. The gods that appear
in such epics are not defenders of moral values
but are capricious forces of nature, and are
to be feared and propitiated.More strictly
ethical claims are found occasionally in the
literature of ancient civilizations that is
aimed at lower classes of society. The Sumerian
Farmer's Almanac and the Egyptian Instruction
of Amenhotep both advise farmers to leave
some grain for poor gleaners, and promise
favours from the gods for doing so. A number
of ancient religions and ethical thinkers
also put forward some version of the golden
rule, at least in its negative version: do
not do to others what you do not want done
to yourself.
== Jewish ethics ==
Since the origin of Ethical Monotheism in
(Hebrew) Judaism, something Greek-sounding
like "ethics" may be said to have been originated
in Judaism's up to four thousand years old
passed down traditions and instructions of
the Torahs (Hebrew: , toroth; plural of Torah),
Oral, Written, and Mystical.
== Ancient Greek ethics ==
Socrates, as portrayed in Plato's Republic,
articulates the greatest good as the transcendent
"form of good itself". The good, Socrates
says, is like the sun. The sun gives light
and life to the earth, the good gives knowledge
and virtue to the intelligible world. It is
the cause of goodness in people and actions,
and it also is the cause of existence and
knowledge. The pursuit of and love of the
good itself (rather than any particular good
thing) Socrates thought was the chief aim
of education and (especially) of philosophy.
In his personal life, Socrates lived extremely
morally. He was chaste, disciplined, pious,
responsible, and cared for his friends In
Gorgias he defends the notion that it is better
to suffer injustice than to do it. The Greeks
found this paradoxical, but Socrates both
argued and lived this philosophy consistently.
That is because the doing of evil damages
the soul, which is the highest part of humans.
In the Republic, Socrates is challenged to
defend the view that we have reasons to be
moral that do not come from rational self-interest,
in response to Glaucon's arguments in Book
2. The Republic develops the view that being
a good person in an ethical sense involves
achieving internal harmony of the parts of
the soul. However, Plato's ethical ideal,
as expressed in the Republic, still has much
in common with the Homeric conception of the
leader of a tribe or city: the successful
running of the city and the internal harmony
of the citizen who runs it is the main ethical
aim, and there is little mention in Plato
of any strictly moral obligations the ruler
may be under.
Aristotle's ethics builds upon Plato's with
important variations. Aristotle's highest
good was not the good itself but goodness
embodied in a flourishing human life. His
ethics are based on eudaimonia, variously
translated as "happiness," "prosperity," "flourishing,"
or "success." A "great-souled" citizen who
lives a life of virtue can expect to achieve
eudaimonia, which Aristotle argues is the
highest good for man. Following Plato, Aristotle
gives a significant role in moral life the
virtues, fixed habits of behavior that lead
to good outcomes; the main virtues are courage,
justice, prudence and temperance. The highest
form of life is, however, purely intellectual
activity.Later Greek schools of philosophy,
such as the Epicureans and Stoics, debated
the conditions of the good life. Epicurus
taught that the greatest good was pleasure
and freedom from pain. The Epicureans emphasized
the quiet enjoyment of pleasures, especially
mental pleasure, free of fear and anxiety.
The Stoics thought the greatest good not pleasure
but reason and everything in accord with reason,
even if painful. Hence they praised the life
of reason lived in accordance with nature.A
theme of Ancient Greek ethics then is the
role of the virtuous life in achieving eudaimonia,
or the good life; and Aristotle, Epicurus
and the Stoics all argued that virtue was
necessary for happiness, albeit in different
ways and with different conceptions of those
terms.
== Christian ethics ==
A passage of the Torah, "Love your neighbour
as yourself" was taken up by the writers of
the New Testament and made part of the theological
centerpiece of Christian ethical stance. In
the New Testament Jesus teaches that all the
commandments of Jewish religious law could
be summarized in the two rules, "Love God
and love your neighbour" (Mark 12:28-31).
This is illustrated with the Parable of the
Good Samaritan, which praises action to help
any human in need.
== Natural law ethics ==
In the Middle Ages, Thomas Aquinas developed
a synthesis of Biblical and Aristotelian ethics
called natural law theory, according to which
the nature of humans determines what is right
and wrong. For example, murder is wrong because
life is essential to humans so depriving someone
of it is inherently an evil. Education is
needed for humans, and is their right, because
their intellectual nature requires developing.
Natural law theory remains at the heart of
Catholic moral teaching, for example in its
positions on contraception and other controversial
moral issues.The Catholic practice of compulsory
confession led to the development of manuals
of casuistry, the application of ethical principles
to detailed cases of conscience, such as the
conditions of a just war.
== Kantian ethics ==
Immanuel Kant, in the 18th century, argued
that right and wrong are founded on duty,
which issues a Categorical Imperative to us,
a command that, of its nature, ought to be
obeyed. An action is only truly moral if done
from a sense of duty, and the most valuable
thing is a human will that has decided to
act rightly. To decide what duty requires,
Kant proposes the principle of universalizability:
correct moral rules are those everyone could
adopt.Kant's philosophy marks a number of
important conceptual shifts in philosophical
thinking about ethics. Kant argues that questions
about happiness should not be a focus in ethical
thought, because ethics should be universal
while happiness may involve very different
modes of life for different individuals. He
also believed this approach was necessary
if an ethical theory was to avoid becoming
'heteronomous'; that is, locating the source
of proper moral motivation outside of properly
moral concerns.
== Utilitarianism ==
In 19th century Britain, Jeremy Bentham and
John Stuart Mill advocated utilitarianism,
the view that right actions are those that
are likely to result in the greatest happiness
of the greatest number. Utilitarianism remains
popular in the twenty-first century.Both Kantianism
and Utilitarianism provide ethical theories
that can support contemporary liberal political
developments, and associated enlightenment
ways of conceiving of the individual.
== Twentieth century ==
The early twentieth century saw many debates
on metaethics, that is, philosophical theory
on the nature of ethics. Views ranged from
moral realism, which holds that moral truths
are about mind-independent realities, to evolutionary
ethics, which believes ethical practices are
merely evolved ways of behavior that led to
evolutionary success, to the error theory
of J. L. Mackie, which held that the entire
notion of ethical obligation is a mistake.Reflections
on the Holocaust, such as those of Hannah
Arendt, led to a deepening appreciation of
the reality of extreme evil. Also in reaction
to the Holocaust, rights theories, as expressed
for example in the 1948 Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, asserted the inalienable
moral rights of humans to life, education,
and other basic goods. Another response to
the atrocities of World War II included existential
reflections on the meaning of life, leading
to approaches to ethics based on "the situation"
and personal interaction.The 1970s saw the
revival of casuistry in the form of applied
ethics, the consideration of detailed practical
cases in bioethics, business ethics, environmental
ethics and other such special fields. The
development of new medical technologies such
as IVF and stem cell research produced many
new issues requiring ethical debate.
== See also ==
Ethics
Ethics in religion
History of ethics in Ancient Greece
List of years in philosophy
== Bibliography ==
MacIntyre, Alasdair (1967). A Short History
of Ethics. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-415-04027-2.
Becker, Lawrence C.; Charlotte B. Becker (2003).
A History of Western Ethics. New York: Routledge.
ISBN 0-415-04027-2.
Irwin, Terence (2007). The Development of
Ethics. New York: Oxford University Press.
ISBN 0-415-96824-0.
Crisp, Roger (2013). Oxford Handbook of the
History of Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University
Press. ISBN 978-0-19-954597-1.
== References ==
== External links ==
Ancient ethical theory (Stanford Encyclopedia
of Philosophy)
Ancient ethics (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
The Natural Law Tradition in Ethics (Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
