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Ethics
The Ethics of Duty
1724 -- 1804
It is sometimes described as "duty" or
"obligation" based ethics, because
deontologists believe that ethical rules
"bind you to your duty.
When faced with an ethical dilemma, Kant
believes we should ask ourselves: “To
whom do I owe a duty and what duty do I
owe them?”
Kant believes only actions performed for
the sake of duty have moral worth.
A central theme among deontological
theorists is that we have a duty to do
those things that are inherently good
("truth-telling" for example) .
KANTIAN ETHICS
Supreme Principle of Morality
The rightness or wrongness of an act depends
upon universal laws of action (the END never
Justifies the MEANS)
It is all about DUTY
Deontological ethics is commonly contrasted
with teleological ethical theories, according
to which the rightness of an action is
determined by its consequences.
Deontologists believe that some actions are
wrong no matter what consequences follow
from them
Immanuel Kant, for example, famously
argued that it is always wrong to lie – even if
a murderer is asking for the location of a
potential victim
Exceptions
Are exceptions possible for Kant?
– Yes, as long as they can be consistently
universalized
Examples
– The speeding car
We can universalize an exception for something like
ambulance drivers
– The Gestapo example
Can we universalize a maxim to deceive in order to save
innocent lives?
Overview:
The Ethics of Respect
One of Kant’s most
lasting contributions to
moral philosophy was
his emphasis on the
notion of respect
Kant on Respect
“Act in such a way that
you always treat
humanity, whether in
your own person or in
the person of any other,
never simply as a
means, but always at
the same time as an
end.”
Kant on Respecting Persons
Kant brought the notion of respect (Achtung)
to the center of moral philosophy for the first
time.
To respect people is to treat them as ends in
themselves. He sees people as autonomous,
i.e., as giving the moral law to themselves.
The opposite of respecting people is treating
them as mere means to an end.
Strength’s of Kantian Ethics
Distributive justice
Retributive justice
Compensatory justice
Distributive justice
Which is a matter of
compensating persons for
wrong done to them.
Principles of Distributive Justice