Three Views on Ethics: Socrates, Plato, and Freud

Paper Summary:

This paper explains how Socrates and Plato differ in detail, but their basic view of reason as the key to ethical thinking and the right thing as an objective standard remain the same. Freud differs significantly because he adds the ideas on the subconscious mind to the issue. In doing so, Freud rejects reason as the basis of ethical thinking and also shows that the right thing is subjective, rather than objective. This paper considers these differences in more detail. Firstly, the ethical theories of each are described ,and this is followed by a consideration of the specific differences.

From the Paper:

"Socrates view of ethics was one based on seeing it as a rational process. According to Socrates nobody would purposely choose to do the wrong thing. Instead, a person would only do the wrong thing if they didn't have the information to know any better. This view places reason as central to ethics, where the person who knows what is right does what is right. With this view, the only barrier to ethical action is knowledge. This is a view where reasoning is considered as the basis by which decisions are made. Especially notable is that Socrates does not suggest that emotions might impact thinking, or even that a person just might think irrationally. Instead, people are considered to always think rationally, while any error in thinking is based on not having enough information."

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