Ethics and development of consciousness

Ethics typically focuses on defining right and wrong behavior. But despite centuries of work by major schools of thought disagreement about the nature and content of such criteria has proven to be the rule rather than the exception.

Two major approaches of ethics can be distinguished, duty based and happiness based. The duty based is supported by Kant which emphasizes performance and the following of rules; the happiness based depicted by John Steward Mill, emphasizes the promotion of general happiness and well being. Each of these approaches has its strengths and reflects and reflects deep aspects of intuition about ethics.

But there are problems with both. Advocates of the happiness based approach often point out that following rules and duty without consideration of other people’s happiness and suffering is too complex to be defined and used as a base for ethics and the life based on the pursuit of happiness makes one a slave to circumstances and violates human dignity.

Mill expresses his view on freedom by illustrating how an individual's drive to better their station, and for self-improvement, is the sole source of true freedom. Only when an individual is able to attain such improvements, without impeding others in their own efforts to do the same, can true freedom prevail. Mill's linking of freedom and self-improvement has inspired many. By establishing that individual efforts to excel have worth, Mill was able to show how they should achieve self-improvement without harming others, or society at large.

The theory, developed as a result of Enlightenment rationalism, is based on the view that the only intrinsically good thing is a good will; an action can only be good if its maxim – the principle behind it on which to act – is duty to the moral law. Central to Kant's construction of the moral law is the categorical imperative, which acts on all people, regardless of their interests or desires.

Kant an outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters. Humanist beliefs stress the potential value and goodness of human beings, emphasize common human needs, and seek solely rational ways of solving human problems.

German philosopher G. W. F. Hegel criticized Kant for not providing specific enough detail in his moral theory to affect decision-making and for denying human nature. German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer argued that ethics should attempt to describe how people behave and criticized Kant for being prescriptive. Michael Stocker has argued that acting out of duty can diminish other moral motivations such as friendship, The Catholic Church has criticized Kant's ethics as contradictory and regards Christian ethics as more compatible with virtue ethics.