Deontology

Deontology

• Deontological ethics is closely associated with

Immanuel Kant’s model of theory.
• It argues that morality the rightness and
wrongness of a human act depends on whether
that act fulfills a duty or not rather than a
consequence.
• Hence, Deontological ethics is duty based.
• Deontology come from the Greek word deon
means duty,
Immanuel Kant

Immanuel Kant was a German

philosopher and one of the central
Enlightenment thinkers. Kant's
comprehensive and systematic
works in epistemology,
metaphysics, ethics, and
aesthetics have made him one of
the most influential figures in
modern Western philosophy.
 Deontology

• Actions are right or wrong regardless of their

consequence.
• In deontological ethics, therefore, we make
moral decisions, we have to consider first which
actions are right and wrong and proceed from
there.
• Kant's moral law is based on “rational will” – the
will which is entirely devoted to, or guided by
fairness and universality of action.
 Deontology

Example:
Kant used the example of lying as an
application of his ethics: because there
is a perfect duty to tell the truth, we
must never lie, even if it seems that
lying would bring about better
consequences than telling the truth.
 UNIVERSALIZABILITY

• Kant endorses this formal kind of moral theory. He

called it categorical imperative, which provides a
procedural way of identifying the rightness or
wrongness of an action.
• It is our duty to act in such a manner that we would
want everyone else to act in a similar manner in
similar circumstances towards all other people.
• Kant expressed this as the Categorical Imperative. Act
according to the maxim that you would wish all other
rational people to follow, as if it were a universal law.
 Moral Autonomy

• Moral autonomy, usually traced back to

Kant, is the capacity to deliberate and to
give oneself the moral law, rather than
merely following the orders of others.
• Personal autonomy is the capacity to decide
for oneself and pursue a course of action in
one's life, often regardless of any particular
moral content.
 Immanuel Kant’s Claim and Ideas

• We have the capacity to make our own list of

moral commands. Instead of receiving them from
others, we use our own rational faculty to
produce our own list of moral duties.
• We are encouraged to have courage to think on
our own, to use our rational will against external
authorities as well as internal base impulses that
tend to undermine our autonomy and self-
determination.
•