THEORY 1:

DUTY
ETHICS by
Immanuel Kant
By: Alingal, Alonso, Bautista,
Calumpang & Cala
 WHAT IS

DUTY ETHICS?
 It stresses duty as
the norm of moral
actions
According to Kant, to be able to
determine one’s duty in a
particular situation, one must
test the act’s
universalizability.
THE TWO UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLES
OF NURSING

The respect of
The need of human rights
nursing is is inherent in
universal nursing
IMMANUE
L
KANT
• Born on April 22, 1724 and died on February 12, 1804
• A German philosopher and one of the foremost thinkers
of the Enlightenment era in the late 18th century.
• The most influential philosopher in the history of
Western philosophy.
• Contributes to metaphysics, epistemology, aesthetics,
and ethics.
 Moral Philosophy:
Philosophy of freedom
• All humans must be seen as inherently worthy of respect and
dignity.
• Argued that morality must stem from such duties: a duty
based on a deontological ethics.
• Duties are absolute.
• Kant calls the general type of obligation a categorical
imperative.
 THREE FORMULATIONS OF IMMANUEL
KANT’S CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE

FORMULA OF THE FORMULA OF FORMULA OF

UNIVERSAL LAW
“Act only by that maxim
by which you can, at the
same time, will that it be a
universal law.”
HUMANITY
“So act as to treat
humanity, whether in your
own person or in that of any
other, in every case as an
end in itself, never as a
means only.”
AUTONOMY
“Act as if you were through
your maxims a law making
member of a kingdom of
ends.”
SITUATIONAL
EXAMPLES
SITUATION #1
You and your colleague are on a night shift at
the hospital. The doctor asked your colleague
if she had already checked her patient’s vital
signs and she answered yes despite the fact
that she didn’t actually do it. Your colleague
requested that you stay quiet about it, however
you did the exact opposite and reported it to
the head nurse.
 SITUATION #2
You are a nurse and you administered the
medication to the wrong patient. With this, the
patient had a hypersensitive reaction. You told
your colleague about it and both of you
managed to find a medicine to relieve the
patient's hypersensitivity. You got back to the
nursing station without documenting
anything.
 SITUATION #3
Your patient, who is an adult, needs blood
transfusion in order to live. Even though your
patient agreed to the procedure, his family
objected because it was against their religion,
but still you went ahead and performed the
blood transfusion.
PERSPECTIVES
AND
CRITICISM
Should we always live
by the rules?
 BENEFIT DOWNFAL
• focuses S on the
development of virtue,
L
• some principles
result in a clash
may

and flourishing unto • lying is immoral

goodness • does not incorporate
• deontology is simple to self-defense ideas
apply • suggests that you should
• creates a foundation for always do the right
human conduct thing, no matter what
• emphasizes the value of
every person
SUMMARY
•Duty ethics theory rejects consequentialism and differs
in utilitarianism
•Kant believes ethical actions follow moral laws
•The obligation to do our duty is unconditional
•Can produce results that many people find unacceptable