Deontology

Deontology
• “…deontological theories place special
emphasis on the relationship of duty and the
morality of the action” (Evangelista and
Mabaquiao, 2020)
• Etymology: “deon” = duty
• Certain types of actions are intrinsically right
or wrong

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 4 Deontological Theories
• Divine Command Theory
• Natural Law
• Categorical Imperative
• Conditional Deontology

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 Overview of Kantian Ethics
• Also known as the Categorical Imperative
• “…the rightness or wrongness of an act does
not lie in its results or effects.” (Evangelista
and Mabaquiao, 2020)
• Unlike Divine Command theory, law does not
emanate from will of God but for Kant, it
emanates from reason

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 Overview of Kantian Ethics
• “…genuine moral acts must stem from special
non-natural powers of reason and will, and not
from anything in nature such as our natural
inclinations.” (Evangelista and Mabaquiao, 2020)
• Morality is grounded on human reason and not
on human inclination
• Moral obligations are gleaned from human
reason
• Morality is a priori = “comes prior to human
experience and is independent of it” (Ibid)
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 The Good Will
• Kant’s project: moving morality from the
“zone of contingency” to “necessary, absolute,
and universal truths”
• The only thing that is good in itself is the good
will
• Will = intention or motive
• Person is good if he has the right motive, or
doing something because it is morally good

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 The Good Will cont.
• Examples:
– Honor can lead to pride
– Knowledge can be used for evil means
– Belief in God can be used to abuse others

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“Nothing can be conceived in the world, or even
out of it, which can be called good without
qualification, except the Good Will. Intelligence,
wit, judgment, and the other talents of the mind
however they may be named, or courage,
resolution, perseverance, as qualities of
temperament…may become bad or mischievous
if th will which is to make use of them…is not
good.” (Kant in Evangelista and Mabaquiao,
2020)

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 Acting from Duty
• Act follows the good will if it is done for the
right reasons
• For Kant in particular, this means that a
person acts following the moral law itself
• Morality should not be guided by feelings or
inclinations
• Acts are only good if they follow the moral law
– Ex. A seller must sell his items for the right price
because it is the right thing to do

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 Acting from Duty cont.
• Persons mustn’t allow desires to govern them
• By following reason, persons govern
themselves

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 The Categorical Imperative
• Reason alone determines the moral law
• Imperative = maxim/command
• Hypothetical imperatives – obligations that
bind us contingently
– Formula: “If you want X, do Y.”
• Categorical imperatives – “obligations that
bind us absolutely and unconditionally”
– Formula: “Do Y.”

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 The Categorical Imperative cont.
• “[Categorical] imperatives are intuitive,
immediate, absolute, injunctions that all
rational agents understand by virtue of their
rationality.” (Pojman, 1999 in Evangelista and
Mabaquiao, 2020)

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 3 Formulations of the Categorical
Imperatives
• Principle of Universal Law;
• Principle of Ends; and
• Principle of Autonomy

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 Principle of Universal Law
• Also known as the Principle of
Universalizability
• “Act only on a maxim which you will to be
universal.”
• Maxim = “general rule in accordance with
which the agent intends to act” (Evangelista
and Mabaquiao, 2020)
• Persons must adopt an impartial perspective
when assessing rules
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 Principle of Universal Law cont.
• “Do unto others what you want others to do
unto you.”
• Personal act = universal act
• Examples:
– Making and breaking promises
– Contemplating suicide

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 Principle of Universal Law cont.
• According to Wall (2003), it is important to
note that:
– The categorical imperative does not give us
particular rules to follow
• Example: Keep your promises; Love thy neighbor
– It is crucial to maintain the element of
impartiality; everyone is equally bound to the rule
regardless of personal interest
– The categorical imperative does not exempt
anyone

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 Treating Persons as Ends
• Also known as Principle of Ends
• “So act as to treat humanity, whether in your
person of in that of any other, in every case
and end and never as merely a means.”
• Every human has inherent worth because they
are rational beings
• Reason makes human beings good in
themselves and intrinsically valuable

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 Treating Persons as Ends cont.
• “The end does not justify the means.”
• “People are treated as means when we don’t
respect their dignity, rights, and autonomy”
(Evangelista and Mabaquiao, 2020)
• In other words, we treat others as means
when when we exploit and manipulate them,
or strip them of their dignity

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 Treating Persons as Ends cont.
• It is unavoidable that we treat people as
means
• Only acceptable if their consent is valued,
such as when it is a necessary part of their
jobs (e.g. bank tellers, food service personnel,
grab drivers)
• We still treat them as ends, and we respect
them by paying them justly, give them
freedom to choose their jobs

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If a poor woman voluntarily enters prostitution,
would this be considered as a fully autonomous
act emanating from reason?

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 Treating Persons as Ends cont.
• We have a moral obligation to ourselves to
treat ourselves as ends
• We morally fail to respect ourselves
– Example: Differential wife in Hill’s Servility and
Self-Respect

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 Principle of Autonomy
• “So act as if you were always through your
maxims, a law-making member of the
kingdom of ends.”
• Kingdom of ends = “web of rational beings,
held together by the threads of shared moral
maxims.” (Evangelista and Mabaquiao, 2020)
• Law-making = all individuals are legislators of
moral laws

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 Principle of Autonomy cont.
• Autonomy = we must be the ones to freely
choose our moral rules
• Heteronomy = “actions are motivated by the
authority of others” (Evangelista and
Mabaquiao, 2020)
• Unless we personally understand our duties,
we are not creating a good will
– Ex. Businessmen paying his taxes

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• All rational beings, hence all persons, must be
legislators of moral laws
• Motivation must be intrinsic instead of
intrinsic
• Autonomy is “the full expression of our
rational selves” (Evangelista and Mabaquiao,
2020)

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 Evaluating Kantian Ethics
• Objections:
– Moral rules are absolute and objection-less
– Only acting out of duty yields moral value
– Only persons have moral standing in the kingdom
of ends

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 Evaluating Kantian Ethics cont.
Moral rules are absolute and objection-less:
• Circumstances surrounding the situation are
not considered
– Ex. Truth-telling
• Theory is unable to determine which duty
should be considered over the other
• Difficult in situations where there are duties in
conflict with one another

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 Evaluating Kantian Ethics cont.
Only acting out of duty yields moral value:
• Unrealistic and too demanding
• Ignores the affective part of the human
person
• More often than not, our actions are
influenced by our feelings and inclinations
• Realistically speaking, we can’t divorce
ourselves from our feelings
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 Evaluating Kantian Ethics cont.
Only persons have moral standing in the
kingdom of ends:
• This discounts the rationally impaired or
incapable of rational judgment as members of
the kingdom of ends
• It apparently permits non-recognition of rights
or at worst, cruelty

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 References
• Evangelista, Francis Julius N. and Mabaquiao,
Napoleon Jr. Ethics: Theories and Applications.
Manila; Anvil Publishing Inc, 2020.

Prepared by R.E. Miranda