Deontology
Deontology
Karen Ward
PHI208: Ethics and Moral Reasoning (GSP1408A)
Professor Daniel Wagner
03/10/2014
Deontology When people think about ethics, most think in the way of deontology. People who think this way believe in right and wrong, or good and right. Deontologists live by “rules” or “constraints”, these are set by themselves based on the way society views things, for instance; lying, or cheating. Deontologists view lying and cheating are wrong, unless they thought it was their duty to do so for a greater good. Deontology simply put is “duty” or “moral obligation”. There are different types of deontological ethics; divine command, duty theories, right theories, contractarianism, monistic deontology.
1) Divine Command- “The name “divine command theory” can be used to refer to any one of a family of related ethical theories. What these theories have in common is that they take God’s will to be the foundation of ethics. According to divine command theory, things are morally good or bad, or morally obligatory, permissible, or prohibited, solely because of God’s will or commands.” (Holt)
2) Duty Theories- “Ethics based on the notion of duty or what is right(as opposed to achieving the good, i.e., virtue ethics)” (lander.edu)
3) Right Theories- “Rights entitle one to perform certain acts (or be in certain states) and to (not) have others perform certain acts, they govern ways of acting and of being treated. These rights are thought to be directly tied to a duty, whether this be a duty to act or not to act, and whether this duty be legal or |moral]. There is conflict as to whether rights are inherent (things that all human beings possess whether they are recognized by others or not). Those that argue for natural rights maintain that rights should be respected in virtue of humans possessing them, while those that argue against natural rights argue that rights should be respected as they are used as instruments in bringing about optimal consequences in
Karen Ward
PHI208: Ethics and Moral Reasoning (GSP1408A)
Professor Daniel Wagner
03/10/2014
Deontology When people think about ethics, most think in the way of deontology. People who think this way believe in right and wrong, or good and right. Deontologists live by “rules” or “constraints”, these are set by themselves based on the way society views things, for instance; lying, or cheating. Deontologists view lying and cheating are wrong, unless they thought it was their duty to do so for a greater good. Deontology simply put is “duty” or “moral obligation”. There are different types of deontological ethics; divine command, duty theories, right theories, contractarianism, monistic deontology.
1) Divine Command- “The name “divine command theory” can be used to refer to any one of a family of related ethical theories. What these theories have in common is that they take God’s will to be the foundation of ethics. According to divine command theory, things are morally good or bad, or morally obligatory, permissible, or prohibited, solely because of God’s will or commands.” (Holt)
2) Duty Theories- “Ethics based on the notion of duty or what is right(as opposed to achieving the good, i.e., virtue ethics)” (lander.edu)
3) Right Theories- “Rights entitle one to perform certain acts (or be in certain states) and to (not) have others perform certain acts, they govern ways of acting and of being treated. These rights are thought to be directly tied to a duty, whether this be a duty to act or not to act, and whether this duty be legal or |moral]. There is conflict as to whether rights are inherent (things that all human beings possess whether they are recognized by others or not). Those that argue for natural rights maintain that rights should be respected in virtue of humans possessing them, while those that argue against natural rights argue that rights should be respected as they are used as instruments in bringing about optimal consequences in
References: Holt, Tim, 2008, retrieved from http://www.philosophyofreligion.info/christian-ethics/divine-command-theory/ http://philosophy.lander.edu/ethics/duty_topics.html September 8, 2008, retrieved from http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Rights CSLI, retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/contractarianism/ Deontology and Ethics: What is Deontology, Deontological Ethics?, www. About.com Ethical Theory-Deontology, retrieved from http://www3.sympatico.ca/cogito/Gr11/deontology.html