Classic Online Texts
To enjoy the things we ought and to hate the things we ought has the greatest bearing on excellence of character.
In this classic Socratic dialogue from Plato, Socrates converses with Meno about how to define arête, or virtue. The dialogue is significant for introducing Meno s paradox, which concerns the absurdity of an inquiry on any subject matter about which the inquirer knows nothing. Including Platonic notions as to the immortality of the soul and the nature of truth and knowledge, Meno remains a valuable and stimulating work that still manages to perplex students of philosophy to this day.
Plato's "Protagoras" is the dialogue which pits Socrates against Protagoras as representative of the 'sophistic movement' and clearly distances Socrates from his teachings. Protagoras was the chief exponent of the view, ascribed comically by Aristophanes in Clouds to Socrates himself, that one should be able to argue with equal force for or against any particular socio-political or ethical standpoint.
The central work of one of the West's greatest philosophers, The Republic of Plato is a masterpiece of insight and feeling, the finest of the Socratic dialogues, and one of the great books of Western culture. Deftly weaving three main strands of argument into an artistic whole--the ethical and political, the aesthetic and mystical, and the metaphysical--Plato explores in The Republic the elements of the ideal community, where morality can be achieved in a balance of wisdom, courage, and restraint.
Epicureanism is commonly regarded as the refined satisfaction of physical desires. As a philosophy, however, it also denoted the striving after an independent state of mind and body, imperturbability, and reliance on sensory data as the true basis of knowledge. Epicurus (ca. 341-271 B.C.) founded one of the most famous and influential philosophical schools of antiquity. In these remains of his vast output of scientific and ethical writings, we can trace Epicurus' views on atomism, physical sensation, duty, morality, the soul, and the nature of the gods.
Few individuals have shaped their country's civilization more profoundly than the Master Kong, better-known as Confucius (551-479 BC). His sayings and those of his disciples form the foundation of a distinct social, ethical, and intellectual system. They have retained their freshness and vigor throughout the two and a half millennia of their currency, and are still admired even in today's China.
In "The Doctrine of the Mean," one of the writings attributed to Confucius, many of the central doctrines of Confucianism are elaborated. The characteristic of jen is articulated in terms of a cluster of related moral terms including the Five Relationships, the principle of reciprocity (the Golden Rule), and various forms of virtue. The heart of Confucianism is explained here as the adoption of the policies of inculcating virtue in people by the example of tradition and the jen of the superior person.
Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching" (The Book of the Way) is the classic manual on the art of living. In 81 short, poetic chapters, the book looks at the basic predicament of being alive and teaches how to work for the good with the effortless skill that comes from being in accord with the Tao, or the basic principle of the universe.
"Leviathan" is both a magnificent literary achievement and the greatest work of political philosophy in the English language. Permanently challenging, it has found new applications and new refutations in every generation.
In "The Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals" (1785), Immanuel Kant, one of the most powerful philosophical minds of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, inquires into the true nature of morality. In rejecting the results or consequences of action as the foundation of moral judgements, he denies that good or bad effects have any relevance in the moral evaluation of human behaviour. Instead, we must rely upon the Good Will for guidance. What is this Will upon which so much emphasis is placed, and how does it act as the foundation for behaviour that can be assessed as truly moral? In this groundbreaking work, Kant outlines an ethical perspective that has been a vital force in the Western world.
John Stuart Mill's "Utilitarianism" is a philosophical defense of utilitarianism in ethics. The essay first appeared as a series of three articles published in Fraser's Magazine in 1861; the articles were collected and reprinted as a single book in 1863. It went through four editions during Mill's lifetime with minor additions and revisions. Although Mill includes discussions of utilitarian ethical principles in other works such as On Liberty and The Subjection of Women, Utilitarianism contains Mill's only major discussion of the fundamental grounds for utilitarian ethical theory.
"On the Genealogy of Morals" (1887) is a book about interpretation and the history of ethics which raises profoundly disquieting issues about the violence of both. This is the most sustained of Nietzsche's later works and offers one of the fullest expressions of his characteristic concerns.
This work dramatically rejects the tradition of Western thought with its notions of truth and God, good and evil. Nietzsche demonstrates that the Christian world is steeped in a false piety and infected with a "slave morality." With wit and energy, he turns from this critique to a philosophy that celebrates the present and demands that individuals impose their own "will to power" upon the world.
"Nicomachean Ethics" is one of Aristotle’s most widely read and influential works. Ideas central to ethics—that happiness is the end of human endeavor, that moral virtue is formed through action and habituation, and that good action requires prudence—found their most powerful proponent in the person medieval scholars simply called “the Philosopher.”
In a series of pithy, amusing vignettes, Aesop created a vivid cast of characters to demonstrate different aspects of human nature. Here we see a wily fox outwitted by a quick-thinking cicada, a tortoise triumphing over a self-confident hare and a fable-teller named Aesop silencing those who mock him. Each jewel-like fable provides a warning about the consequences of wrong-doing, as well as offering a glimpse into the everyday lives of Ancient Greeks.
