Download Ethics—The Basics by John Mizzoni

Ethics—The Basics
by John Mizzoni
CHAPTER SIX:
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
• Is it wrong to send e-mails to
people requesting them to use
their bank accounts so you can
access those accounts under false
pretenses?
• Is it wrong to defraud others in
order to enrich oneself?
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
• In the Chinese philosophy of Confucius
(K’ung fu-tzu), it is clear that acting
ethically out of motivation for
righteousness is better than being
motivated by benefit (good
consequences).
• Therefore, Confucius was an early nonconsequentialist.
(551-479 BCE)
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
• Indian philosophy, in the Bhagavad Gita,
is very clear on the importance
Of following one’s duty. Krishna,
a Hindu god, tells the warrior
Arjuna that it is his duty to fight,
and that he should not concern himself
with consequences.
• This is clearly deontological ethics.
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
• Greek philosophy does not have much to say
about deontological ethics, even though the
word is derived from the Greek word, deon,
meaning duty. Plato suggests a duty to be just
(Republic)(VE?), and a duty to obey laws (Crito)
(SCE?).
• The concept of acting out of duty, goes back at
least to the ancient Hebrews and relates to
Divine Command Theory.
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
• Divine Command Theory
is
the idea that we have a duty to obey God, and
therefore a duty to do or not do whatever
God has commanded us to do or not do.
• Divine Command Theory is a moral theory, and
moral theology, but, strictly speaking, it is not
normative moral philosophy.
WHY NOT?
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
• Divine Command Theory is not normative moral
philosophy, if philosophy is defined as the
systematic inquiry into the nature of things (such
as norms), based on logical reasoning or
rationality.
• Following commands does not require reason.
• Divine Command Theory has been variously
categorized as moral prescriptivism, as moral
theology, and as deontological ethics.
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
• Deontological ethics is a tradition that, like
natural law ethics, is non-consequentialist.
Nonconsequentialist
ethics
Deonto
-logical
ethics
Natural
law
ethics
• It was most importantly expressed by Immanuel
Kant.
WHO IS IMMANUEL KANT?
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
• Immanuel Kant was an 18th century German
scholar, university professor, scientist,
and philosopher.
• Kant proposed a view of morality
that was based on duty.
(1724-1804)
• Kant is regarded as the author of deontological
ethics.
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
• Pietism was a form of Lutheran Christianity that
stressed religious devotion, humility, and a literal
interpretation of the Bible.
• Although Kant was himself a Pietist, he tried to
develop his philosophy (and ethics) without any
reference to religion.
• Kant may have been influenced by Pietism in his
view of man and his view of the world, but he
never refers to his religious background in his
philosophical writings.
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
DUTY
A duty is something one is required to do. It is an
obligation, a responsibility.
We may have a variety of duties to others:
•
employers and employees
•
parents and children
•
citizens and government officials
•
God (?)
WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR DUTIES?
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
DUTY
Duties may be of different kinds:
•
positive and negative duties
•
duties to self and duties to others
•
direct duties and indirect duties
WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR DUTIES?
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE DUTIES
Positive duties specify what SHOULD be done:
You ought to X!
e.g., “Honor your father and mother!”
Negative duties specify what SHOULD NOT be
done:
You ought NOT to X!
e.g., “You shall not kill!”
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
DUTIES TO SELF AND DUTIES TO OTHERS
In duties to self, the agent and the patient
are the same:
e.g., “Do not take your own life!”
“Develop your talents!”
In duties to others, the agent and the
patient(s) are different:
e.g., “Do not take the lives of others!”
“Help others when possible!”
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
DIRECT DUTIES AND INDIRECT DUTIES
A direct duty is a duty we have toward a person:
e.g. “Do not take your own life!”
“Do not take the lives of other (humans)!
An indirect duty is a duty we have to a pseudoperson:
e.g. “Do not take the lives of other humans’
animals! (pets, livestock)”
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
What are my duties, according to
reason?
•
•
•
•
A duty to preserve reason.
A duty to preserve truth.
This duty is necessary to preserve reason.
A duty to preserve life.
This duty is necessary to preserve my reason.
A duty to preserve freedom.
This duty is necessary to preserve reason and
the inquiry after truth.
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
IMPERATIVES
An imperative is a command to act. It is
prescriptive.
There are two kinds of imperatives:
1. HYPOTHETICAL imperatives
2. CATEGORICAL imperatives
SO, WHAT IS A HYPOTHETICAL IMPERATIVE?
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
HYPOTHETICAL IMPERATIVES
• Are commands that are not absolute, but
conditional, and premised on one’s desires.
• The form of a hypothetical imperative is:
“If you want Y, you ought to X.”
(Y = goal/consequence/end; X = means)
• An example of a hypothetical imperative is: “If
you want to pass this test, you ought to study.”
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVES
• Are absolute and unconditional moral
commands.
• The form of a categorical imperative is:
“You ought to X.”
(X = END-IN-ITSELF, without regards to MEANS or other ENDS)
• An example of a categorical imperative is: “You
ought to study [because you are a student].”
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
Kant thought that moral judgments
were categorical imperatives, or
applications of one ultimate
categorical imperative.
SO, WHAT IS THIS ONE CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE?
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
THE CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE (1)
(The Principle of Autonomy)
“Act in regard to all persons in ways that
treat them as ends in themselves and
never simply as means to accomplish the
ends of others.”
THIS IS THE BASIS FOR THE ETHICS OF RESPECT AND A
BASIS FOR THE ETHICS OF RIGHTS
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
THE CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE (2)
(The Principle of Universality)
“Act only from those personal rules that
you can at the same time will to be
universal moral laws.”
THIS IS A BASIS FOR THE ETHICS OF RIGHTS
WHAT ABOUT RIGHTS …AND DUTIES?
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
RIGHTS AND DUTIES
If we act on the assumption that we
have rights because of the principle of
autonomy/respect, we must act on the
assumption that others have rights as
well, because of the principle of
universality.
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
RIGHTS AND DUTIES
If we have a duty to protect our rights,
we have a duty to protect the rights of
others as well.
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
RIGHTS AND DUTIES
Rights correlate with duties.
•
If I have a right, others have the duties to
respect that right.
•
If I have a right by virtue of my
autonomy, then others have rights as well,
and I have a duty to respect those rights.
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
RIGHTS AND DUTIES
While all rights correlate with duties,
Duties
Rights
not all duties correlate with rights.
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
RIGHTS AND DUTIES
• A legitimate right is a claim that can
limit the freedom of others.
• Some duties are determined by special
roles that we have, and so do not
directly correlate with others’ rights.
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
Is Deontological Ethics Relativist or
Universalist?
It is obvious that Kantian deontological
ethics rejects ethical relativism, since one of
Kant’s formulations of the categorical
imperative is the Principle of Universality.
We all have duties, just because of our
common humanity.
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
What Is the Origin of Ethics, According to
Deontological Ethics (DE)?
Deontological ethicists might view ethical
standards as originating in God’s commands.
However, Kant tried to base the origin of all his
philosophical thinking, including his ethics, on the
individual freedom of rational human beings,
without referring to God.
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
What is human nature, according to DE?
Kant’s answer to the problem of human nature is
not that human beings are made in God’s image
and likeness, but that human beings have
rationality, and that through this rationality they
have freedom. Freedom to choose is the basis of
morality.
Kant therefore disagrees with Hume’s Theory of
Moral Sentiments, and with utilitarianism.
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
What is human nature, according to DE?
According to Kant, people have duties
because they have been commanded by
reason—not the reason of others, but their
own human reason.
HOW DO WE KNOW THESE DUTIES?
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
Kant did not regard animals with the
same ethical regard as the Utilitarians
did.
Experiments with dogs
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
Some Applications of Deontological
Ethics:
Kantian ethics holds that animals exist for
the sake of man because they are not
autonomous, or rational. He holds that
we do not have any direct ethical
obligations toward animals, but may use
them as a means to our end (e.g., for food).
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
Some Applications of Deontological
Ethics:
However, Kant did write that we may
have indirect duties toward animals. In
his thinking, we ought to be kind to
animals out of respect for humanity. For
Kant, non-human animals had no rights.
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
Some modern deontological
ethicists such as Tom Regan
argue that we must consider
the rights of nonhuman animals.
He argues that we should define
autonomy in terms of the ability
(1938-present )
to initiate action to satisfy preferences. This
definition includes some animals as well as
humans.
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
Some Applications of Deontological Ethics:
In the matter of suicide, according to
Kant, we all have a negative duty not to
commit suicide, because such an act
contradicts the concept of human
rationality and freedom (autonomy). It
is choosing not to choose, not to live.
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
Some Applications of Deontological Ethics:
In the matter of punishment, Kant
despised the Utilitarians who said that
punishment should be rehabilitative. He
believed that rehabilitation was using
people as a means to an end, because
we are trying to mold people into what
we think they should be.
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
Some Applications of Deontological Ethics:
Kant was a retributivist. He believed that
the punishment should fit the crime. He
thought that people who committed
crimes had ceded their rationality, and
were therefore less than human, and
could so be treated.
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
Some Applications of Deontological Ethics:
Kant supported capital punishment for capital
crimes.
– Rational beings who freely choose their
conduct are responsible for their actions.
– We are treating them in accordance with their
own application of the Categorical Imperative.
“His own evil deed draws the punishment on himself.”
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
Reflections on the Lex Talionis:
• “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a
tooth” (Ex 21:23-27, NAB) (Code of Hammurabi).
• Prescription or Restriction?
At least this much, or no more than this much?
• Retribution or Reciprocity?
Should I punish you, or simply do to you what you did
to another, so you can learn the consequences?
• Judaism, Christianity, Islam…
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
More reflections on the Lex Talionis:
• “An eye for an eye [the law of retaliation]
only succeeds in making the whole world
blind” (attributed to Gandhi).
• “The old law of an eye for an eye leaves
everyone blind. It is immoral because it
seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than
win his understanding...“ (Coretta Scott King,
The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr., p.73).
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
Advantages of Deontological Ethics:
While divine command theory and natural
law ethics are “top-down”, Kantian ethics
is “bottom-up”. Like social contract ethics,
it has its origin in human beings, in their
autonomy, their freedom and reason.
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
Disadvantages of Deontological Ethics:
One important argument against Kant’s
absolute moral rules has to do with the
possibility of resolving cases of moral
conflict.
E.g., the “Case of the Inquiring Murderer”
presents a conflict between the duty to preserve
life and the duty to preserve truth.
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
Disadvantages of Deontological Ethics :
Another important argument against
Kant’s absolute moral rules has to do
with the difficulty of doing one’s duty.
Doing one’s duty could result in the loss of one’s
happiness, property, and the lives of one’s loved
ones, as well as one’s own life.
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
Other Disadvantages of DE:
Kantian ethics is “over-intellectuallized.”
Kantian ethics ignores feelings in favor of
reason.
Kantian ethics is overly masculine in its
orientation.
What about schizophrenics, and persons in
comas, or with low cognitive ability?
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
The Advantages and Disadvantages of
Deontological Ethics :
CAN YOU THINK OF ANY MORE EXAMPLES?
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
Deontological Ethics in Biblical Times
“On the way of duty I walk, along the paths of
justice” (Proverbs 8:20, NAB)
“When you have done all you have been
commanded, say, “We are unprofitable servants;
we have done what we were obliged to do.”
(Luke 17:10, NAB).
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
Deontological Ethics in American History
“While we are zealously performing the duties of
good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to
be inattentive to the higher duties of religion”
(George Washington).
“...every man is under the natural duty of contributing
to the necessities of the society” (Thomas
Jefferson).
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
Deontological Ethics in American History
“Let us have faith that right makes might; and in that
faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we
understand it” (Abraham Lincoln).
“Duty is the sublimest word in our language. Do
your duty in all things. You cannot do more. You
should never wish to do less”
(General Robert E. Lee).
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
Deontological Ethics in American History
“Duty is ours; consequences are God’s” (attributed
to General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, earlier
used (1856) by abolitionist John Jay).
“We have the duty to protect the life of the unborn
child” (Ronald Reagan).
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
Deontological Ethics in Popular Culture:
Captain “Lucky Jack” Aubrey, in the movie
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the
World, tells the ship’s Irish surgeon,
“I will grind whatever grist [grain] the mill
requires in order to fulfill my duty…whatever
the cost.”
Ethics—The Basics
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
Deontological Ethics in Popular Culture:
• In Star Trek: Insurrection, Captain Picard
argues with Admiral Dougherty that some
actions are wrong, regardless of the numbers
involved: “How many people does it take, Admiral, before it
becomes wrong? A thousand? Fifty thousand? A million? How
many people does it take, Admiral?”
In Star Trek: The Next Generation, there are
several episodes that deal with duty. For
example, “The first duty… is to the truth.”