Duty, Pleasure, Power—or Love? | In Focus

What are the major moral systems, and how do they shape today’s ethical debates? In this edition of In Focus, Dr. Christopher Kaczor examines four foundational approaches to ethics—duty-based, consequentialist, nihilist, and virtue ethics—through the thought of Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, Friedrich Nietzsche, and St. Thomas Aquinas. Tracing the philosophical roots of contemporary moral reasoning, Kaczor explains how each system approaches concepts like human dignity, happiness, and the moral law. Along the way, he explores the limits of pleasure as a moral standard, the role of reason and will, and how virtue ethics—grounded in Aquinas and Aristotle—offers a vision of happiness rooted in love, friendship, and the pursuit of the good.