Prima Facie and Actual Duties

* Rightness and Goodness – the only two moral properties ;

distinct, indefinable, and irreducible objective quality

* Act – that which is done

* Action – the doing of the act itself

* Rightness – id not identical with the act

* Goodness – is not identical with motive

* Prima Facie Duty – conditional duty

* Actual Duty – absolute (unconditional) duty ; the most stringent duty

 Duty of Fidelity – the duty to be faithful ; one’s loyalty to a worth
cause
 Duty of Reparation – the duty to right the wrongs we have done
to others
 Duty of Gratitude – the duty to appreciate and recognize the
services others have done to us
 Duty of Justice – the duty to be fair with everyone
 Duty of Beneficence – the duty to do good toward others ; the
duty to help others
 Duty of Self-improvement – the duty to develop and improve one
one’s self with respect to virtue, intelligence, and happiness
 Duty of Non-maleficence – the duty not to inflict evil, injury, or
harm to one’s self and others
Thus Ross commands:

“Do that which is more of a

DUTY”
~How do we know the rightness of
an act and the goodness of it’s
motive?

“We need to determine the non-

moral properties or circumstances
surrounding the act itself.“
~(Conflict of Duties: Prima Facie
and Actual Duties) How do we
resolve the conflict of duties?

“Do that which is more of a duty ;

act in accordance with the prima
facie duty which has a greater
balance of rightness over
wrongness.”
 ~How do we know that
one duty is more of a
duty? Or how do we know
that such duty has a
greater balance of
rightness over wrongness?
 A.) “One, and only one, of these
two prima facie duties is my actual duty..
We cannot do both.”

B.) “I know each one of them to be

prima facie – this is self-evident.
Intuitionism, direct insight of something or
immediate apprehension”

C.) “I can only have an option

about which is more of a duty, and
therefore my actual duty.”
Illustration:

Guching is part of the LACUU, she promised to meet

Stefan Salvatore, her husband, at Hotel Nicanor, room 169,
on Friday midnight of February 14, 2013. On that day, there
was a sudden show in the Luce Auditorium and she was
assigned to go on duty.

Prima Facie Duty#1: Guching has the duty to fulfill his

promise to her husband, Stefan Salvatore
Prima Facie Duty#2: Guching has the duty to go on duty
in the Luce Auditorium

ACTUAL DUTY: That which is more of a duty ; the

more stringent duty ; no reason to justify your
decision