Summarise Ethical Theories: A Beginner's Cheat Sheet

Five ethical theories, boiled down so a complete beginner can actually hold them in their head. For each, a one-sentence core idea, the founding thinker, a real moral question it handles well, and where it falls short. The thing to read the night before an exam or when a debate keeps name-dropping Kant and you want to keep up.

Summarise the five most influential ethical theories in moral philosophy so that a complete beginner can understand and remember them. Cover: (1) utilitarianism, (2) Kantian deontology, (3) virtue ethics, (4) social contract theory, and (5) care ethics. For each theory, provide: a one-sentence core idea, the name of its most important founding thinker, one real-life example of a moral question it handles well, and one type of moral question where it struggles or gives counterintuitive answers. Use simple, everyday language: no jargon without explanation. End with a brief note on how a thoughtful person might draw on multiple theories rather than committing to just one, and why that might be philosophically justified.