Deontology Vs Utilitarianism

The ago-old debate between the philosophies of Kant and Mill have divided academics for centuries. While both sides have their merits, I strongly believe the philosophy of Kant carries more weight in determining the morality of action. However, like any philosophical theory, deontology becomes flawed when pushed to extreme scenarios. In this essay I will argue for general affirmation of deontology, understanding that there are cases in which the logic becomes flawed. Furthermore, this essay will be from the perspective of a state actor rather than an individual, which is a very important clarification because individual actors are accountable only to themselves, whereas state actors must consider their actions in the scope of the people the
We have collectively witnessed many atrocities that were committed or allowed to happen throughout the world, simply because the consequences of intervention would be negative. This consequence based approach is completely devoid of morality because, as mentioned above its tries to quantify and unquantifiable value. While deontology, alone is almost certainly insufficient for determining the morality of international action due to the immense complications behind some of the situations, it serves as a useful guide that utilitarianism simply fails to provide. One example of deontology being a better calculus for action than utilitarianism was in WWII at the Battle of Dunkirk. At the Battle of Dunkirk thousands of British troops were stranded in France and needed to be transported back to Great Britain where they could continue fighting. However, instead of providing the military resources necessary to save them, Winston Churchill decided to conserve military power to fight the Germans at a later date and allowed the stranded British soldiers to be massacred. Luckily, through as a series of miracles and German oversights most of the soldiers were eventually rescued, but the example goes to show how a government acting by utilitarianism deprives itself of humanity and makes decisions that relegate the constituents of the government to being pawns in the final desired result. Once the desired result is achieved, let's say British victory over the Germans then the result is entirely pyrrhic because the government has devalued the people that benefit from the result because they have been treated as means to an end rather than an end in and of themselves. The Battle of Dunkirk is not the only foreign policy decision that would have been better had it been approached from a deontological standpoint. During WWII a huge number of US troops were stranded in the Philippines. General MacArthur