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Teleological and Deontological Ethical Theories
Teleological and Deontological Ethical Theories
Ethical Theories
d SAYEJ
Dr . SUMAYIA
Prepared by
AHMAD JUMA
AHMAD SHTAYA
objectives
At the end of this presentation , the students will be
able to
1. Define the teleological and deontological
ethical theories.
2. differentiate between teleological and
deontological ethical theories
3. identify the
Problems with the Teleological / Deontological Cl
assification
Introduction
Ethics of Doing (Ethics of Conduct)
What makes an act right or good?
There are two general answers to this question
that create the two main divisions in the Ethics
of Doing (= Action-based Ethics = Ethics of
Conduct):
1. Teleological Ethics = Consequentialist Ethics.
The morality of an act is based on the outcome or
consequence of the act.
2. Deontological Ethics = Nonconsequentialist
Ethics. The morality of an act is based in the act
itself.
Types of teleological ethics
consequences
Introduction
Deontological Ethical Systems
Three deontological systems of ethics (= acts
themselves are intrinsically good or bad):
The Divine Command Theory. A good act is whatever
God wills, and a bad act whatever God prohibits.
Natural Law Ethics. Our reason can discern which acts
are good or bad because God has imprinted this
information in our natures and in the world about us.
The ethics of Immanuel Kant. There is a “moral law” that
is part of the fabric of reality in the same way as are the
laws of logic and mathematics, a law that is encapsulated in
the “Categorical Imperative” (= “The Golden Rule”).
Deontological
A deontological theory
(e.g. Kant’s) maintains
that the wrongness of
(some) actions is
intrinsic, or resides in the
kind of action that it is,
rather than the
consequences it brings
about.
For example, an act of killing an innocent man is
wrong because it is the killing of an innocent man,
rather than because it deprives someone of future
happiness and causes grief to a family. So
deontological theories do not define the notion of right
action in terms of the promotion of good
consequences. The rightness of an action is not
determined by the goal it achieves, and this makes it
non teleological as a moral theory.
Problems with the Teleological /
Deontological Classification