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Ethical Theories Comparison Chart

	Utilitarianism	Ethical Egoism	Ethics of Care	Kantianism	Prima Facie Duties	Divine Command Theory	Virtue Theory
How is “good” Determined	Good is determined by consequences	Good is determined by self-interests	Good is determined by the interpersonal care, as the virtue of morals	Good is not determined by actions but consequences	Good is based on the prime duty	Good is determined by the Divine Command	Individual characters led to consequences
Most Noted Philosopher(s)	Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill	Thomas Hobbes	Carol Gilligan and philosopher Nel Noddings	Immanuel Kant	W. D. Ross's	Thomas Aquinas, Robert Adams, and Philip Quinn.	Plato and Socrates
Major Strengths	It provides answers to the question “what ought man to do”	The theory impacts self-confidence and reliability in decision making	The theory helps one to engage in self-examination and determine moral virtues	A persons actions determine his/her moral worth	It guides one to develop moral obligation for his actions	Good is based on faith and beliefs	The theory provide ethical grounds for moral thinking
Major Weaknesses	The theory does not explain the certainty of trust and self-confidence.	According to critics, the theory involves a slave morality and a lot of ambiguity.	The theory create indifferences in others opinions in regard to morality	Not all good actions led to good consequences	The theory fails to elaborate on the cause of action due to incomplete duties	The feasibility of good depends on faith and thus invisible.	It is difficult to establish the nature of virtues depending on their culture and societies.