Ethics
Chapter Five
Deontological Ethics
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Deontological Ethics
 Deontological Ethics
 Deontologists hold that rightness and
wrongness of acts are determined by the
intrinsic quality of the act itself or the kind of
act it is, not by its consequences
 A deontologist would tend to give the
millionaire’s money to the Yankees,
according to the millionaire’s request
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Deontological Ethics
 Deontological Ethics
 Kant argues that we can’t will that lying or
promise breaking be universal laws, so that
they must be seen as immoral
 Moral principles are absolute
 Ross says if we consult our conscience, we
will hit upon obvious moral principles
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Deontological Ethics
 The Moral Law by Immanuel Kant
 Kant rejects this naturalistic, utilitarian account
of ethics, but says that ethics is not contingent
on anything, rather it is absolute
 Our moral duties are not dependent on
feelings, but on reason
 They are unconditional, universally valid and
necessary, regardless of the possible
consequences or opposition to our inclinations
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Deontological Ethics
 The Moral Law by Immanuel Kant
 If we can consistently will that everyone do
some type of action, then that action will be
moral
 If we can’t consistently will that everyone do
some type of action, then that type of action is
morally wrong
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Deontological Ethics
 The Moral Law by Immanuel Kant
 So act as to treat humanity, whether yourself or
another
 In every case as an end and never as merely a
means only
 Each person must never be exploited,
manipulated, or merely used as a means to our
idea of what is for the general good
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Deontological Ethics
 The Moral Law by Immanuel Kant
 The Good Will
 A good will is good simply by virtue of the
volition, that is it is good in itself and
considered by itself to be esteemed much
higher than all that can be brought about by
it in favor of any inclination
 A thing which has its whole value in itself
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Deontological Ethics
 The Moral Law by Immanuel Kant
 The First Proposition of Morality
 An action must be done from a sense of
duty, if it is to have moral worth
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Deontological Ethics
 The Moral Law by Immanuel Kant
 The Second Proposition of Morality
 An action done from duty derives its moral
worth, not from the purpose which is to be
attained by it, but from the maxim by which it
is determined and therefore does not depend
on the realization of the object of the action,
but merely on the principle of volition by
which the action has taken place without
regard to any object of desire
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Deontological Ethics
 The Moral Law by Immanuel Kant
 The Third Proposition of Morality
 Duty is the necessity of acting from respect
for the law
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Deontological Ethics
 The Moral Law by Immanuel Kant
 The Formulation of Universal Law
 When Kant conceives a hypothetical
imperative, in general he does not know
before hand what it will contain until he is
given the condition
 But when he conceives a categorical
imperative, he knows at once what it
contains
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Deontological Ethics
 The Moral Law by Immanuel Kant
 The Formulation of Humanity as an End in Itself
 Things have only relative value and can be
used as a means to an end
 Rational beings are called persons, and
because of this they are ends in and of
themselves
 So act to treat every human being whether it is
yourself or another as an end and never as a
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means
Deontological Ethics
 The Moral Law by Immanuel Kant
 Using Persons as Mere Means
 To use someone as a mere means is to involve
them in a scheme of action to which they could
not in principle consent
 If I cash a check I use the teller as a means,
without the teller I could not lay my hands on
the cash
 In this case, each party consents to the their
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part in the transaction
Deontological Ethics
 The Moral Law by Immanuel Kant
 Using Persons as Mere Means
 One person may make a promise to another
with every intention of breaking it
 If the promise is accepted, then the person to
whom it was given must be ignorant of what the
promisor’s intention really is
 If one knew that the promisor did not intend to
do what he was promising, one would not
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accept the promise in the first place
Deontological Ethics
 The Moral Law by Immanuel Kant
 Using Persons as Mere Means
 The person can’t, in principle, consent because
the person was deceived, used as a tool, a
mere means
 In Kant’s view it is this that makes false
promising (lying) wrong
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Deontological Ethics
 The Moral Law by Immanuel Kant
 Using Persons as Mere Means
 This can be accomplished by:
 Deception, the person can’t consent since
they didn’t know
 Coercion, if the person is coerced they are
not consenting
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Deontological Ethics
 The Moral Law by Immanuel Kant
 Do you think that Kant’s thinking is too rigid?
 Should we take consequences into account when
deciding on moral decisions?
 How would Kant deal with moral conflicts?
 Anne Frank
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Deontological Ethics
 Intuitionism by Ross
 Ross says that optimal consequences have
nothing to do with moral rightness or wrongness
 We have intuitive knowledge of rightness and
wrongness in terms of action guiding principles,
such as keeping promises, promoting justice
showing gratitude and not harming others
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Deontological Ethics
 Intuitionism by Ross
 Unlike Kant, Ross believes these principles are
not absolutes
 While their intrinsic value is not dependent on the
circumstances, their application is
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Deontological Ethics
 Intuitionism by Ross
 Normally promise keeping should come before
benevolence, but that when and only when the
good to be produced by the benevolent act is very
great and the promise comparatively trivial, the
act of benevolence becomes our duty
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Deontological Ethics
 Intuitionism by Ross
 The duty of non malfeasance is recognized as a
distinct one
 We should not in general consider it justifiable to
kill one person in order to keep another alive, or
to steal from one in order to give money to
another
 If the duty is to produce the maximum of good,
the question becomes “Who should have the
good?”
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Deontological Ethics
 Intuitionism by Ross
 What if we make a promise to Adam and it would
produce 1,000 units of good for him
 But if we break the promise to Adam we would be
able to give Cain 1,001 units of good to whom I
haven’t made a promise
 Should we do right by Able who we promised or to
Cain who would receive the most good?
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Deontological Ethics
 Intuitionism by Ross
 There would be a much greater disparity of value
between the total consequences and us failing to
keep the promise
 The fact that we have made a promise is in itself
sufficient to create a duty of keeping it
 The sense of duty rests on the past promise and
not the thoughts of future consequences
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Deontological Ethics
 Intuitionism by Ross
 What if Cain was a very good man and Able was
a very bad man, would this influence your
decision?
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Deontological Ethics
 The Deep Beauty of the Golden Rule-MacIver
 The Golden Rule is the best method for
discovering one’s moral duty
 By putting yourself in another person’s place you
can find guidance for action
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Deontological Ethics
 The Deep Beauty of the Golden Rule-MacIver
 How can ethics lay down final principles of
behavior that are not your values against my
values?
 There is no rule that can prescribe both my values
and yours or decide between them
 So, do unto others as you would have others do
to you
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Deontological Ethics
 The Deep Beauty of the Golden Rule-MacIver
 This prescribes a mode of behavior, not the goal
of action
 When we want to make our ethical principle
prevail we try to persuade others in an attempt to
convert them
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Deontological Ethics
 The Deep Beauty of the Golden Rule-MacIver
 The Golden Rule asks you to expand your vision,
to see yourself in new relationships, to transcend
your insulation, to see yourself in the place of
others and other in your place, to test your values
or at least your way of pursuing them
 However, the Golden Rule doesn’t solve our ethic
problems, rather it tells us how to approach the
situation
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Deontological Ethics
 The Deep Beauty of the Golden Rule-MacIver
 Think about it, when I am in power, you advocate
the equal rights of all creeds
 Then when you rise in power, you reject any such
claims as ridiculous
 Is this what the Founding Father of the U.S. did
when confronting the issue of slavery?
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Deontological Ethics
 A Critique of the Golden Rule by Whately
 According to the Golden Rule, when I lease my
land to a farmer, I should allow him to have it for
free because that is the way I would like him to
treat me, correct?
 Should the retail store sell everything at cost,
because shopkeeper would like to buy at cost?
 Should the jailer do the same and release the
prisoner, because the jailer would want to be
free?
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Deontological Ethics
 A Critique of the Golden Rule by Whately
 So the Golden Rule isn’t what you would wish, it
is what is right, fair, just and reasonable
 What if you rented an apartment this semester
and there was no heat for one week during the
month which made the apartment uninhabitable
for that week, what would be fair and reasonable?
 So, the real design of the Golden Rule is to guard
against the danger of being blinded by self
interest
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Deontological Ethics
 A Horseman in the Sky by Bierce
 What did Carter Druse’s father say to him when
Carter told his father he was joining the Union
Army?
 Did Carter do as his father instructed?
 Would you have behaved in the same manner?
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Deontological Ethics
 The Evil of Lying by Fried
 Fried says that lying is morally wrong because it
violates respect for other persons
 To lie is to intend to produce an effect which
always has something bad about it
 Truth is a foundational value
 What do you get when you cheat playing solitaire
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Deontological Ethics
 The Evil of Lying by Fried
 The moral capacity for rational choice implies the
capacity to recognize the matter on which choice
is to act and to recognize the kind of result our
choice will produce
 To lie to someone is to injure him in a way that
particularly touches his moral personality
 Lying would be a way of injuring a person in his
various interests
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Deontological Ethics
 The Evil of Lying by Fried
 Lying is wrong because when I lie, I set up a
relation which is essentially exploitative, it violates
the principle of respect
 When I lie, I am like a counterfeiter:
 I don’t want the market flooded with counterfeit
money
 I don’t want my counterfeit money back either
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Deontological Ethics
 A Jury of Her Peers by Glaspell
 What if you were one of the two women and knew
about the bird?
 Is it your moral duty to tell the District Attorney
and/or Sheriff?
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Deontological Ethics
 A Jury of Her Peers by Glaspell
 What if you were one of the two women and knew
about the bird?
 Is it your moral duty to tell the District Attorney
and/or Sheriff?
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Deontological Ethics
 Moral Luck by Nagel
 Kant believed that good or bad luck should not
influence ones moral judgment
 Whether we succeed or fail in what we try to do is
nearly always dependant to some extent on
factors beyond our control
 What has been done and what is morally judged
is partially determined by external by external
factors
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Deontological Ethics
 Moral Luck by Nagel
 Is there a moral difference between rescuing a
person from a burning building and then dropping
the person from the 12th story window during the
rescue?
 What if the Nazis never came into power, would
those Germans who committed war crimes ever
had a chance to commit the crimes?
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Deontological Ethics
 Moral Luck by Nagel
 What if you were driving home and ran over a
child, what is your degree of moral responsibility?
 What is you were speeding or driving the speed
limit
 What if you were talking on your cell phone or
paying close attention or the sun was in your
eyes?
 What is the child ran from between parked
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cars?
Deontological Ethics
 Moral Luck by Nagel
 What if you attempted to kill someone:
 What if they died?
 What if they only suffered serious physical
injury?
 What if they had on a bullet proof vest?
 Would you still have the same moral
responsibility?
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Deontological Ethics
 Moral Luck by Nagel
 What if an envious person hates the success of
others, but congratulates the person for a job well
done, is this wrong?
 What if someone is conceited, but they are the
very best looking or the smartest, is this wrong?
 What if someone is generous, and we are not,
should we condemn that person or ourselves?
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Deontological Ethics
 Moral Luck by Nagel
 What if we are never placed in a position and
never have our morals tested?
 Abu Ghraib?
 Were we judging the person, rather than the
situation
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