Name: Phạm Thùy Linh

Student ID: 11196343

Class: Advanced International Business 61B

HOMEWORK 4
Task:

What is deontology? Use the theory of deontology to express your idea about
what is right thing to do in this case.

Deontological ethics, in philosophy, ethical theories that place special

emphasis on the relationship between duty and the morality of human actions. The
term deontology is derived from the Greek Deon, “duty,” and logos, “science.” In
deontological ethics an action is considered morally good because of some
characteristic of the action itself, not because the product of the action is good.
Deontological ethics holds that at least some acts are morally obligatory regardless
of their consequences for human welfare. Descriptive of such ethics are such
expressions as “Duty for duty’s sake,” “Virtue is its own reward,” and “Let justice
be done though the heavens fall.” Deontology is often associated with philosopher
Immanuel Kant. Kant believed that ethical actions follow universal moral laws,
such as “Don’t lie. Don’t steal. Don’t cheat.” Deontology is simple to apply. It just
requires that people follow the rules and do their duty. This approach tends to fit
well with our natural intuition about what is or is not ethical. Unlike
consequentialism, which judges actions by their results, deontology does not
require weighing the costs and benefits of a situation. This avoids subjectivity and
uncertainty because you must only follow set rules.

Titanic is a famous American epic romance and disaster movie fictionalized the
sinking if the RMS Titanic through a ill-fated love story of Jack and Rose, the two
people of different social classes. This short essay will possibly discuss about the
morally right and wrong in the case of their love.

In general, while sailing abroad the Titanic on upper class level, Rose who has an
unhappy engagement with Caledon, a rich ignorant man, quickly falls for Jack, the
poor guy who got the chance to sail the Titanic by playing a lucky hand of poker.
To keep seeing each other on the ship, despite ofmother’s disapproval, Rose
continuously lies to her fiancé. In term of common thought, Jack and Rose are
worthy of being together and the struggle for their love is justified. This love will
be presumably considered as ethical if they can be consequently happy together no
matter what. However, this approach is seemed to be consequentialist theory
holding that the consequences of one conduct are the ultimate basis for any
judgment about the rightness and wrongness of that conduct. In contrast, there is
deontology which does not focus on the consequences of an individual action.
Within Katian deontology, personal emotions behind actions also do not matter
because Kant believed humans do not always have rational control over their
emotions. Instead, the intent behind chosen actions hold far more important.

Therefore, deontology proponents judge actions based on what most people

consider to be morally correct, regardless of actual consequences. In this practical
case, under deontology theory, even though Rose is not happy with her
engagement and her fight for love is totally justified, her lies to her fiancé are
deontologically unethical because lying is always considered wrong even if it is to
benefit or brings about better consequences. Moreover, in essence, the relationship
between Rose and Caledon has created because Caledon can help the Rose family
overcome the financial crisis. In other words, Rose has sacrificed her life's
happiness for the family which is an extremely moral action. However, everything
has become unethical since meeting Jack because she accidentally ignores her
mother disapproval and hurts her in order to be with Jack. On the ethical level,
hurting family and loved ones, especially mother, is morally wrong and not
encouraged under any circumstances. Likewise, Rose’s action is so irresponsibly
with her family and herself. She not only does not think of the future of the family
but also is selfish to think for herself that put her benefits ahead of all.

Hence, Rose is unethically wrong and the right things Rose has better to do in this
movie case is breaking up with Jack and maintaining her engagement with Caledon
in spite of the consequences.