Platos Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 7

Platos Ethics - Essay Example He points to a good understanding of what virtues such as courage, justice, and temperance have on the individual’s endeavor at attaining happiness. He points to these virtues since they are, according to him, what one needs to appreciate pleasure, friendship, honor, wealth, virtue and other goods in life. Accordingly, one cannot acquire wisdom simply by acquiring knowledge about general rules.   Hume is famous for his empiricist theory of the mind which asserts that reason is a slave of passions; moral distinctions are not derived from reason; moral distinctions are derived from moral sentiments, and that virtues are either natural or artificial. Hume is of the opinion that passions (feelings, emotions, desires) are mere impressions that are very different from ideas which are original, vivid and lively perceptions. This is because of passions, according to Hume, control reasoning and desires.   Russell put forth a lot of opinions about marriage, war and the rights of women. In all his writings, Russell insisted on one’s having an open mind towards handling the issues in their lives. He despised obstinacy in the face of counter-arguments since it is not a virtue when in a scientifically-minded thinker. To Russell, virtues meant assessing a given argument from the point of view of one with enough information and with an open mind to allow them to take the most sensible side.   The mill is quoted to have said that â€Å"the effect produced, in social phenomena, by any complex set of circumstances, amounts precisely to the sum of the effects of circumstances taken singly.† He thus placed an emphasis on the effects of one’s actions to the majority and beyond the individual. He deduced this idea from the writings of Auguste Comte and other philosophers during his time or before him.