Immanuel Kant’s Deontological Theory

DEONTOLOGY

 It is an ethical theory that uses rules to distinguish right from wrong.

 Kant believed that ethical actions follow universal moral laws, such as “Don’t lie, Don’t steal, Don’t cheat.”
 Following the rules makes deontology easy to apply. But it also means disregarding the possible
consequences of our actions when determining what is right and what is wrong.
 Kant believes that morality must be rational. He models his morality on science, which seeks to discover
universal laws that govern the natural world.
o DEON- duty or obligation o
LOGOS- study

Two Types of Imperative (Immanuel Kant)

 HYPOTHETICAL IMPERATIVE
- It’s conditional on a person’s wants, needs, or desires and normally comes in the following form: “If you
want/need A, then you ought to do B.”
▪ For example, the advice, “If you want to do well on a test, then you should study a lot” would be a
hypothetical imperative.
▪ “If you are thirsty, drink water,” or “If you want to be in better shape, you should exercise.” Such
commands are more like advice on how to accomplish our goals than moral rules.
▪ If you don’t have a particular want, desire, or goal, then a hypothetical imperative doesn’t apply. For
example, if you don’t want to be in better shape, then the hypothetical imperative that you should
exercise, doesn’t apply to you.
 CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE
- Instead of taking an if-then form, is an absolute command, such as, “Do A,” or “You ought to do A.”
▪ Examples of categorical imperatives would be “You shouldn’t kill,” “You ought to help those in need,” or
“Don’t steal.”
▪ It doesn’t matter what your wants or goals are; you should follow a categorical imperative no matter what.

Formulations of Categorical Imperative

1. Universalizability principle- act only according to that maxim which you can act to the same time will that it
should become a universal law without contradiction.

2. Formula of humanity- act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another,
always as an end, and never as a mere means. It’s perfectly fine to use things as mere means but not humans, this is
because we are what Kant called ends-in-ourselves.

VIRTUE ETHICS
VIRTUE ETHICS

▪ It emphasizes the virtues, or moral character, in contrast to the approach that emphasizes duties or rules or
that emphasizes the consequences of actions. Moral exemplars most often can point to others who have
served as mentors or strong positive influences (Aristotle)
▪ It was developed by Aristotle and other ancient Greeks. It is the quest to understand and live a life of moral
character.
▪ This character-based approach to morality assumes that we acquire virtue through practice. By practicing
being honest, brave, just, generous, and so on, a person develops an honorable and moral character.
 3 Main Directions of Virtue Ethics

1. EUDAIMONISM

- It bases virtues in human flourishing, where flourishing is equated with performing one’s distinctive function
well.

2. AGENT - BASED THEORY

- It emphasizes that virtues are determined by common-sense intuitions that we as observers judge to be
admirable traits in other people.

3. ETHICS OF CARE

- It was proposed predominately by feminist thinkers. It challenges the idea that ethics should focus solely on
justice and autonomy; it argues that more feminine traits, such as caring and nurturing, should also be
considered.

Theory of the Golden Mean

- The basic principle of the golden mean, laid down by Aristotle 2,500 years ago is moderation, or striving for a
balance between extremes.
- Adherents of the golden mean are not expected to do what another individual or organization wants simply
to pacify them, but would choose to take a moderate path rather than acting on extremes.

JUSTICE AND FAIRNESS

JUSTICE

- means giving each person what he or she deserves or, in more traditional terms, giving each person his or
her due.

FAIRNESS

- impartial and just treatment or behavior without favoritism or discrimination.

The most fundamental principle of justice—one that has been widely accepted since it was first defined by Aristotle
more than two thousand years ago—is the principle that "equals should be treated equally and unequal unequally."

In its contemporary form, this principle is sometimes expressed as follows: "Individuals should be treated the same,
unless they differ in ways that are relevant to the situation in which they are involved.“

We also believe it isn't fair when a person is punished for something over which he or she had no control, or isn't
compensated for a harm he or she suffered.

“Human beings are all equal in this respect: they all have the same dignity, and in virtue of this dignity they deserve
to be treated as equals. “ Immanuel Kant

SOCIAL JUSTICE

The term “social justice” consists of two words: one is social and the second is justice. The term ‘social’ is concerned
with all human beings who live in society, while the term ‘justice’ is related to liberty, equality, and rights.

Thus, social justice is concerned with ensuring liberty, providing equality, and maintaining individual rights for every
human being in society.

Dr B.R. Ambedkar (Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar)

(born April 14, 1891, Mhow, India—died December 6, 1956, New Delhi)
 - leader of the Dalits (Scheduled Castes; formerly called untouchables) and law minister of the government of
India (1947–51).

Indian Caste System

John Rawls

- He believes that a just society is one whose characteristics conform to normative rules that everyone would
agree. Rawls’ conception of justice is “JUSTICE AS FAIRNESS”

A Theory of Justice was published in 1971 by American moral and political philosopher John Rawls. It attempted to
resolve the problem of distributive justice in society.

Rawls was opposed to the traditional philosophical arguments on what constitutes a just institution, and the
justification for social actions and policies.

For Rawls:

1. Life should not be sacrificed for the sake of the majority.

2. An erroneous theory is tolerable with the absence of a good one.
3. Individual liberties should be restricted in order to maintain equality of opportunity.

In opposing the utilitarian arguments, Rawls attempted to establish an unbiased version of social justice based on the
social contract approach.

The social contract approach holds that society is in a form of agreement with all those within the society.

The Original Position

Rawls introduced the “Original Position” as an artificial device when he developed the Principles of Justice theory.

The device created a hypothetical situation where members of the population can come to a contractual agreement
on the distribution of resources without one party being seen to be more advantaged than the other.

The thought experiment would produce the desired state of affairs among members of the population behind a veil
of ignorance. The veil was a condition that blinded people to all their personal characteristics such as age, ethnicity,
sex, and income level, which would otherwise cause bias.

The Two Principles of Justice

John Rawls presented two principles of justice that self-interested and rational individuals would choose when
separated by the veil of ignorance. The principles include:

▪ Principle of Equality

First, the least advantaged in society should receive a greater number of benefits.

Second, the economic inequalities should be arranged in a way that no individual is blocked from occupying any
position or office, regardless of their ethnicity, sex, or social background.

Rawls argued that all individuals in society should have fair equality of opportunities and an equal chance as
everybody else of similar natural ability.

▪ Principle of Equal Liberty

It is the first principle of justice to be derived from the original position. It states that all citizens have an equal right
to basic liberties(democratic rights.)

Rawls added the right of personal property as one of the basic liberties that individuals should have, and that cannot
be infringed or amended by the government. He, however, excluded an absolute right to unlimited personal property
as part of the basic liberties that people should have.
Different Kinds of Justice

Distributive justice

- It refers to the extent to which society's institutions ensure that benefits and burdens are distributed among
society's members in ways that are fair and just. When the institutions of a society distribute benefits or
burdens in unjust ways, there is a strong presumption that those institutions should be changed.

Retributive or corrective justice

- It refers to the extent to which punishments are fair and just. In general, punishments are held to be just to
the extent that they take into account relevant criteria such as the seriousness of the crime and the intent of
the criminal, and discount irrelevant criteria such as race.
- Studies have frequently shown that when blacks murder whites, they are much more likely to receive death
sentences than when whites murder whites or blacks murder blacks. These studies suggest that injustice still
exists in the criminal justice system in the United States.

Compensatory justice

- It refers to the extent to which people are fairly compensated for their injuries by those who have injured
them; just compensation is proportional to the loss inflicted on a person.

Feminist Thought and the Ethics of Care

FEMINISM

▪ The belief in social, economic, and political equality of the sexes. Although largely originating in the West,
feminism is manifested worldwide and is represented by various institutions committed to activity on behalf
of women’s rights and interests.
▪ Throughout most of Western history, women were confined to the domestic sphere, while public life was
reserved for men. In medieval Europe, women were denied the right to own property, to study, or to
participate in public life.
▪ At the end of the 19th century in France, they were still compelled to cover their heads in public, and, in
parts of Germany, a husband still had the right to sell his wife.
▪ Even as late as the early 20th century, women could neither vote nor hold elective office in Europe and in
most of the United States (where several territories and states granted women’s suffrage long before the
federal government did so). Women were prevented from conducting business without a male
representative, be it a father, brother, husband, legal agent, or even son.
▪ Married women could not exercise control over their own children without the permission of their husbands.
Moreover, women had little or no access to education and were barred from most professions. In some parts
of the world, such restrictions on women continue today.

ETHICS OF CARE

 A feminist approach to ethics. It challenges traditional moral theories as male-centric and problematic to the
extent they omit or downplays values and virtues usually culturally associated with women or with roles that
are often cast as ‘feminine’.
 The best example of this may be seen in how ethics of care differs from two dominant normative moral
theories of the 18th and 19th centuries. The first is deontology, best associated with Immanuel Kant. And the
second utilitarianism, attributed to Jeremy Bentham and improved upon by John Stuart Mill. They each
require the moral agent to be unemotional.
 Moral decision-making is thus expected to be rational and logical, with a focus on universal, objective rules.
  In contrast, ethics of care defends some emotions, such as care or compassion, as moral.

In a Different Voice

 Traditional proponents of feminist care ethics include 20th-century theorists Carol Gilligan and Nel
Noddings. Gilligan’s influential 1982 book, In a Different Voice, claimed that Sigmund Freud’s theory of
psychoanalysis and Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral development were biased and male-oriented.
 On these dominant psychological accounts of human development, male development is taken as standard,
and female development is often judged as inferior in various ways.

 How might the ethics of care theorist resolve the classical ‘Heinz’ dilemma: should a moral agent steal the
required medicine he cannot afford to buy to give to his very sick wife, or stick to the rule ‘do not steal’,
regardless of the circumstances?
 A tricky dilemma to be sure as there are competing duties here (namely, a positive duty to help those in need
as well as a negative duty to avoid stealing).

The Story of Heinz

A story of a middle-aged ordinary middle-class man, called Heinz is considered as an example. His wife suffers from a
dreadful disease. Doctors believe that a special drug which was invented recently and is available at the BIG pharma
store, can only save his wife.

Now, to solve this Heinz’s dilemma, the thinker has three options.

1. Heinz should not steal the drug because it is the disobedience of law.

2. Heinz can steal the drug but should be punished by the law.

3. Heinz can steal the drug and no law should punish him.

Arguably, the caring person would place the relationship with one’s spouse above any relationship they may or may
not have with the pharmacist, and care or compassion or love would outweigh a rule (or a law) in this case, leading
to the conclusion that the right thing to do is to steal the medicine.

Note: the utilitarian may also claim a moral agent should steal the medicine because saving the wife’s life is a better
outcome than whatever negative consequences may result from stealing.

 Writing at the same time as Gilligan, Noddings also defended care as a particular form of moral relationship.
 She sees children as naturally caring (with the exception of sociopaths and psychopaths) and claims this is a
prerequisite for ethical caring.
 While Noddings does not rule men out from being caring, it is usually women who feature in her examples of
caregivers.

Who cares?

 Ethics of care has been influential in areas such as education, counseling, nursing, and medicine. Yet there
have also been feminist criticisms.
 Some worry that linking women to the trait of caring maintains a sexist stereotype and encourages women to
continue to nurture others, to their own detriment, even while society fails to value carers as they ought.
 While Noddings claims moral agents also need to care for themselves, this is so they are better able to
continue caring for others.
 Obviously, it is not only women who care or who take on caregiving roles (paid or unpaid). Yet empathetic
professions such as nursing, teaching, childcare, and counseling are female dominated, and women still do
the majority of unpaid caring roles including childrearing and domestic duties in the home.