Ethical Theory Of Deontology

Deontology is a famous meta-ethical theory practiced among famous philosophers such as Immanuel Kant, W.D. Ross, Sissela Bok, and many other philosophers and influential people we know. Deontology is focused on “duty” based actions. The entire theory is focused on the duty of people and how they submit to the duty that they have. It is simply defined as duty is the basis of morality. It is also focused around looking at the consequential effects of a particular action that is done. Because of the belief system of deontologists, I strongly believe that deontology attains the strongest and most easily defendable argument out of all the meta-ethical theories. Opposing, utilitarianism is the belief system that morality is doing what will bring …show more content…
Deontological beliefs are for beings who possess the capability for rational thinking and believing. Anyone who cannot do so, are not able to participate in deontological beliefs. Taking this into consideration, only rational beings can understand Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative. His categorical imperatives were broken into three different formulations. The first formulation is the fact that, we all should act as we believe that others should also act. How can we expect people to conduct themselves in a moral, duty based manner if we do not either? The second formulation is to not use people as a means. Using people as a means is exploiting them, and this is something that should never happen. This is completely realistic, because exploiting people is completely unethical. The third formulation is that, as human and rational beings, we are all one big community and we should act as such. We should all be held and hold each other to the same standard, we are all part of the rational community and must conduct ourselves as a community. “Moral principles are universal.” Which means they apply to …show more content…
You cannot predict the outcomes of utilitarian actions. There is no logical way to predict the future and to determine if the consequences will be beneficial in the long term as well as the short term. You also, cannot “calculate” the amount of pleasure and pain that will come from the decision or action. It is not possible to calculate it, because you cannot calculate how much pleasure and pain each person will gain from the action. Lastly, you cannot put a certain value on happiness. Different things bring more or less happiness to different people, so it is impossible to measure the amount of happiness you will receive by putting a certain value on