Since ancient times, philosophers have dreamt of deriving ethics (principles that govern how we should behave) from scratch, using only incontrovertible principles and logic. Alas, thousands of years later, the only consensus that has been reached is that there’s no consensus. For example, while Aristotle emphasized virtues, Immanuel Kant emphasized duties and utilitarians emphasized the greatest happiness for the greatest number. Kant argued that he could derive from first principles (which he called “categorical imperatives”) conclusions that many contemporary philosophers disagree with:
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