History of Philosophy: Ethics
Ethics studies the concepts related to morality, or those things that are considered 'proper' or 'right' versus those that are 'improper' or 'wrong', and how they relate to things such as justice, virtue, and duty, involving the 'systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior', concerning 'matters of value', as aesthetics does, making it a part of a broader branch called 'axiology', which studies the nature, sources, and types of values, also known as 'value theory', and seek to answer the question 'what is the greatest good?'
The earliest writings, epic poems such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Iliad, and the Eddas, 'portray a set of values that suit the strong leader of a small tribe' as well as those that are 'principal qualities of a hero…[which are] not constrained by moral considerations' such as success and valor. Morals are not demonstrated by the gods, either, as they are shown as 'capricious forces of nature and are to be feared and propitiated' rather than emulated. Ethics 'are found occasionally in the literature of ancient civilizations that is aimed at lower classes of society', such as the Sumerian Farmer's Almanac and the Egyptian Instructions of Amenemope, advice for successful living written by a scribe for his son during the Ramesside period, which both 'advise farmers to leave some grain for poor gleaners, and promise favours from the gods for doing so', which was also advised by the Torah. Many ancient religions and ethical thinkers tend to have some variation on the Golden Rule, 'therefore whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them', or at least the negative version, 'do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself', which is more limited in scope as it only limits action rather than dictating what action to take.
Early morality was based in mythology, which often lacked a comprehensive framework. During the 7th century BCE, the ancient Greeks began developing morals based on 'rational arguments…, leading to the rise of philosophy as a distinct mode of thought', which has been attributed to Socrates as he 'aimed to establish moral truths by questioning the beliefs of others, rather than by explaining them directly…insisting on the formulation of moral principles from beginning'. He posed what is known as the Euthyphro dilemma, as recorded in Plato's dialogue Eythyphro, 'the problem of whether divine action was motivated by it being good, or whether it was good because it was divine?', or 'is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious because it is loved by the gods?'
Plato thought on justice in his Republic, 'a concept which for Plato was inclusive of wider morality as well'. In a dialogue, he had Thrasymachus, a sophist, which was a teacher in ancient Greece, argue that 'conventional morality was a ruse invented to keep the elite in power, which should be discarded in favour of self-interest', to which Plato argued that of the five regimes that societies could be divided into, the best is aristocracy where 'the desires of the inferior many are controlled by the wisdom and desires of the superior few' and that democracy would cause moral and cultural degradation and that 'extreme freedom can't be expected to lead to anything but a change to extreme slavery', further arguing that 'ordinary people were living in an illusion, demonstrated by the allegory of the cave, the theory of forms suggested that objective definitions, as looked for by Socrates, did actually exist. The highest form was that of the Good, which gave purpose for everything in the world and could only be understood by the philosophers'.
Aristotle disagreed with Plato about there being a 'universal transcendental good, instead seeing ethics as practical and particular', defining good as 'that at which all things aim…that good which is being pursued for its own sake was the supreme good', which he called 'eudamonia', which is usually translated as 'happiness', but can be more broadly translated as 'flourishing', involving 'living well and doing well', with pleasure following. He thought a magnanimous person who 'lives a life of virtue can expect to achieve eudaimonia, which Aristotle argues is the highest good for man'. A Plato did, Aristotle felt that the virtues, 'fixed habits of behaviour that lead to good outcomes; the man virtues are courage, justice, prudence, and temperance', played a 'significant role in moral life', though the virtues are 'merely a means to an end' and that they 'should be based on finding the golden mean between extremes', or 'nothing in excess'.
The Greek philosophers continued to debate what constituted a good life, framing it in their idea of what the greatest good was. For example, Epicurus frame the greatest good as being 'pleasure and freedom from pain…the quiet enjoyment of pleasures, especially mental pleasure, free of fear and anxiety', and Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoic philosophy, felt the greatest good was 'the life of reason lived in accordance with nature'. This was also affected by their view of determinism, whether there was only one way for events to occur, with Epicureans believing the universe 'was essentially meaningless' while the Stoics thought 'God…gave meaning to the world'.
The Mahabharata, which was written between the 3rd century BCE - 4th century CE, contains the idea of dharma, 'a conception of natural law and the duties required for the upholding of natural order', with it being one of the four aims of Hinduism, along with moksha (enlightenment), artha (wealth), and kama (pleasure), with moksha being able to see through the 'illusion hiding reality, which requires both understanding the impermanence of the material reality as well as the attainment of an understanding of the unity of the Self (atman) and the foundation of being (brahman). Moksha also means breaking free from the cycle of reincarnation which is governed by karma, the accumulated balance of good and bad actions by an individual', which was a justification for the strict case system.
During the so-named Axial Age, the period between the 8th and 3rd centuries BCE when there were broad, sweeping changes in religion and philosophy in various places such as Greece and India, asceticism, a 'lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures through self-discipline, self-imposed poverty, and simple living, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals', and hermitage became more popular in India, 'sometimes being a reaction to the prevailing social structures', with two significant belief systems emerging: Jainism and Buddhism. Jainism holds that 'enlightenment [comes] through a perfectly ethical life that [necessitates] a complete renunciation of the killing of any living beings, including the smallest of insects'. Buddha's ethics were laid out in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, which focused on the Four Noble Truths, the first being that suffering is unavoidable and part of life (duḥkha), which is one of the three marks of existence along with impermanence and that an unchanging, permanent self does not exist, the second being suffering is caused by unfulfilled desires, the third being that renouncing desire will end suffering, and the fourth is that the only way to renounce desire is to follow the Noble Eightfold Path, with the Middle Way between asceticism and indulgence and other extremes like hedonism and nihilism.
Confucius, who lived at nearly the same time as Buddha, focused mostly on ethics, especially how to create a 'harmonious society, which he believed were based on two human qualities: ren and li' with ren being humaneness, related to the Golden Rule, though exact actions depending on the relationship between the people. Li relates to the 'need to follow tradition, rituals, and other conventional norms' which also helps dictate the behaviors needed for ren.
