HAVE YOU EVER

CHEATED ON
EXAMS?
Do you think everyone will cheat on exams like
you?

Do you think cheating on exams is not wrong and

not harmful?
Is
cheating
on exams
wrong?

08/01/2019
CHAPTER 4

NON-CONSEQUENTIALISM
(DEONTOLOGY)
 What is deontological ethics?
• Deon is Greek for duty

– Morality is a matter of duties

• Determining what it is right to do and wrong to do

does not always require knowing what are good
and bad ends to pursue or what one’s real interests
are.
– Whether something is right or wrong doesn’t depend on its
consequences. Actions are right or wrong in themselves.

– General duties toward anyone. Special duties resulting

from personal relationships.

– We each have duties regarding our own actions.

 Deontological ethics

▪ Deontological ethics says that being good

consists in following the right rules/meeting
all your obligations.

▪ Unlike consequentialism, it is highly un-

situational.
▪ e.g. if killing is wrong, it is always wrong
even if killing someone will save 1 million
lives.
08/01/2019
• Immanuel Kant was an 18th century German Immanuel Kant
Enlightenment philosopher.
(1724-1804)
• A deontologist, he is best known for his
Categorical Imperative. Being ethical involves
identifying your duty ... and following it.
– You do the right thing simply because it is the right
thing to do. (This is the "imperative" part.)
– The ethical duty is one you would want everyone to
follow -- all the time, in every circumstance, with no
exceptions and (at least to some extent) regardless of
the consequences. (This is the "categorical" part.)
– The ethical duty also is one that values humans for
themselves, never as a means to an end.

08/01/2019
 Kantian ethics

Kantian ethics rests on two major claims:

1. The sole source of moral goodness is the Will

2. A Good Will is one which acts from universalizable reasons

08/01/2019
The sole source of moral goodness is the Will

In looking to what we should actually ascribe the word

“good”

• Kant first rules out abilities/talents, because these can be

used for evil.

• Kant also rules out consequences, because those are not

ultimately up to us, and goodness should not be based on
luck.

• The only thing we always have control over is our will−we

can choose what policies to enact within our own minds.
08/01/2019
A Good Will is one which acts from
universalizable reasons

• The fact that the will is the source of goodness is further

confirmed by the fact that reason is the thing which is
most distinctively human.

• Reason is very bad at making us happy (just consider

how much happier most animals are), so our end
purpose cannot be happiness.

• The only thing reason is good for is allowing us to

consider and follow good principles/maxims.

08/01/2019
 A Good Will is one which acts from
universalizable reasons

• Act only on maxims that you can simultaneously will to become

a universal law

• This is sometimes put, “don’t make an exception of yourself.”

• To put it another way, suppose that any time you acted it

instantly became the case that everyone else acted in the same
way (acted on the same reasons).

• If you could not coherently still act in that way, or if you would no
longer desire to act in that way, then you should not act on that
reason
08/01/2019
Act only on maxims that you can simultaneously will to
become a universal law
• If we act, we are acting on a principle.

• A principle is something like “one should hurt those who hurt you” or “one should
try to make others happy”

– If I think that principle is true, then it would be irrational for me to think that others should
not act on it.

• That is, if I think it is right to act on the principle “take what you can, give nothing
back” then by the very nature of it being a principle, I also think that others
should act on it.

• If I cannot coherently will everyone to act on a principle, then I cannot will

myself to act on that principle.

• Principles are not the sorts of things that can apply to one individual.
08/01/2019
Act only on maxims that you can simultaneously will to
become a universal law

• It is irrational to think that I should act a certain way while thinking that
society should be held to a different standard.

• There are no moral principles we must act on other than the principles that
we give ourselves. But there are rational requirements on the principles
such that morality is not just whatever we want it to be or think it should
be.

• “The laws to which [one] is subject are only those of his own giving,
though at the same time they are universal, and that he is only bound to
act in conformity with his own will; a will, however, which is designed by
nature to give universal laws” −Kant

08/01/2019
 Examples
• There are primarily two ways Kant thinks we can fail to follow the
categorical imperative. We can act on a principle which we cannot
consistently conceive of as a universal law.

– Suppose one has no desire to live. She wants to act on a principle that
she kill herself because it would be helpful to herself; but the very idea
of helping oneself implies not harming oneself, so this is an incoherent
desire.

– Suppose a man needs to borrow money which he knows he will not be

able to pay back. If he were to desire that everyone who needed
money borrow it with no intention of paying it back, then he is in fact
imagining a scenario in which no one lends money. He thus cannot
consistently desire that everyone borrow money without intending to
pay it back, because this is conceiving an inconsistent scenario.

08/01/2019
 Deontological ethics

1. Universal
– If you can universalize an act and still it is right, then it
is ethical.

2. Self
– Are you ready to accept the same act on yourself.

3. Means
– Any person should not be used as the means to an
end.

4. Long-term societal impact

– Will the society become better in the long term if this
act is practiced?
08/01/2019
 Case 1 to discuss
There are 3 patients A, B and C.
According to
i. A needs liver deontological theory,
ii. B needs a kidney is the act that the
doctor recommend
iii. C needs a heart to get healthy. ethical?

The hospital is run out of any organs.

If there is not any operation, all the 3 patients are
going to die.
A doctor says that 1 out of the 3 people should give
his organs to the other 2 to save them, himself dying
in the process.
08/01/2019
 Deontological ethics
1. Universal x
– If you can universalize an act and still it is right,
then it is ethical.

2. Self x
– Are you ready to accept the same act on yourself.

3. Means x
– Any person should not be used as the means to an end.

4. Long-term societal impact x

– Will the society become better in the long term if this act is practised?

All the 4 conditions of deontology are not satisfied for this act, hence this
act is UNETHICAL.
08/01/2019
 Case 2

• There is someone want to kill you

If deontology is true…
because you owe him a big amount • He should lodge a reports to
of money. police.
• You’re not afford to pay it because he • You cannot kill him
give you a high interest.
• He also cannot kill you
• What should you do?
• Because killing somebody are
– Kill him before he kill you
wrong and unacceptable
– Just let he end your life
– Report to the police

08/01/2019
 Case 3

• Suria was hang out with her buddies to

a concert at Kuala Lumpur last night.
• Her parent never allow her to go
• But she had lie to her parent and said
that she had join a camping that
organized by her school for a night.
If deontology is true…
• Suria do the wrong things
• Because she lied to her parents.
• Everyone know, lying is not alright.
• Suria should obey her parents.

• Do you think that Suria do the right

things?

08/01/2019
 Case 4

• Sara is a big liar.

If deontology is true…
• Tom should tell Sara the truth that
• He want to ask Tom to join him in a he don’t want to join him in that
business that do not ever exist. business.
• Tom know about it.
• Tom cannot lie even for his sake
• So what should Tom do? because lying is wrong.
– Lying to Sara by saying that he doesn’t
have any money.
– Neglect Sara without any reason
– Just tell the truth

08/01/2019
 Case 5
If deontology is true…
• You may have considered (or even
performed) the action getting onto • It is wrong.

the shoulder of the highway(or into • We cannot getting on to the

the empty lane which is closing up shoulder of the highway because
law do not allow it.
ahead) and driving past cars in front
of you before merging back into your
original lane during the traffic jam.

• Is this action ethically permissible?

08/01/2019
 Case 6
If deontology is true…
• Jessica saw a poor kitten in the drain.
It was wet, hungry and cold. • He should help the kitten.

• We are obliged to do
• So, what should he do? something good to fellow
beings in need of attention.
– Should she help the kitten out of
the drain and keep it as pet?

– Or she just neglect the kitten.

08/01/2019
 Reading time - discussion

08/01/2019
08/01/2019
 Case 7
If deontology is true…
• What is his desire?
• People should prevent the guy
• What did he ask people to do? from killing himself because killing
is wrong.
• What did the people do?

• Do you think, giving him the pill and

getting back 20$ is right?

• Do you think the guy that is homeless

and through away his pill did the right
thing?

08/01/2019
 Problems for Deontology
• One noteworthy feature which may be considered bad or good is that the
categorical imperative does not always say what to do. Sometimes there may
be one forbidden action, but many permissible actions, and Kant does not say
which is the best.
• The problem of how broad maxim’s are supposed to be.
• Whether or not we can or do wish a rule to be universalized seems to depend
a lot on how specific a maxim is.
– If we consider the case of borrowing money without intending to give it back, then
nobody will lend money.
– Kant thinks we should not do this, so he needs maxims to be broader claims, such as
“one should borrow money without intending to pay it back”; a maxim of that sort
plausibly could not be universalized
– But, if the maxim on which we were acting were “anyone with my DNA sequence
should borrow money with no intention to pay it back” then we probably could
coherently imagine and will such a scenario.
08/01/2019
Will you struggle for your true love while it hurts your family?
08/01/2019
Home work 4

• Rose has engaged, but she is not happy with that relationship.
• She falls in love with the poor guy and really happy. But she lies
to her boy friend.
• She struggles for her love but hurt her boy friend and her family.
• What is deontology? Use the theory of deontology to express
your idea about what is the right thing to do in this case.

08/01/2019