Deontology

Question 1

Para 1

Duty

Answer 1

Duty is a moral obligation
Role specific duties
Aquinas: duties to ourselves, others and social duties
Kant: Identified that we give the most praise to those who followed their duty alone (doctors soldiers) and it was an extreme sense of duty (usually at an expense to ourselves)

Question 2

Para 2

Kant’s morality

Answer 2

Reason-we are born with an innate ability (more or less equal in all men) to make rational decisions
Through reason we understand our obligation and duty
Kant rejects happiness as a basis for morality as it will lead us to be unreasonable and selfish
Also happiness is subjective
Morality is objective and a priori-independent from human experience

Question 3

Para 3

Imperatives

Answer 3

“Something that ought to be done”
2 types:
Hypothetical-based on preference and experience and desire
Categorical-universal and based on obligation

Question 4

Para 4

Categorical laws

Answer 4

3 laws
Universal-our actions must be able to be universalised and still be acceptable to be performed
Kingdom of Ends-we must act as if we were creating laws (and everyone was following them) for a kingdom of ends
Humanity formula-humans are not a means to an end but an end in themselves

Question 5

Para 5

Prima Facie Duties

Answer 5

WD Ross- couldn’t choose why we act only can choose how we act
Identified 7 duties that apply to situations-we choose through intuition and experience
Eg=justice, fidelity and reparation

Question 6

Contractualism

Answer 6

People agree to a contract and follow it

Question 7

Monism

Answer 7

One rule (deontological principle)

Question 8

Divine command

Answer 8

All comes from God

Question 9

Libertarianism

Answer 9

Only things that remove our rights is wrong

Question 10

Strength of duty

Answer 10

We can experience and understand duty in everyday life

Question 11

Strengths of Kant’s morality

Answer 11

This is objective and universal (identifies moral rules independent of race and culture)

Question 12

Strength of imperative

Answer 12

Kant rejects the hypothetical as it’s based on subjective wants (selfish)

Question 13

Strength of categorical laws

Answer 13

Strength of humanity
It recognises the intrinsic worth of humans
Strength of universal law
Absolutist

Question 14

Strength of Prima Facie

Answer 14

Flexible deontology

Question 15

Intro

Answer 15

Immanuel Kant 
5 types:
Contractualism 
Monism 
Duty 
Divine command 
Libertarianism 
The theory is deontological

Question 16

Strength 1

Answer 16

Kant’s morality is very straightforward and based on reason-therefore accessible to everyone

Question 17

Weakness 1

Answer 17

Bentham criticised it on the grounds that it was essentially an intellectualises version of popular morality, San that the unchanging principles that deontologists attribute to natural law or universal reason are really a matter of subjective opinion

Question 18

Strength 2

Answer 18

Kant’s categorical imperative gives us rules that apply to everyone and command us to respect human life

Question 19

Weakness 2

Answer 19

Kant was in favour of human autonomy and freedom yet at the same time he implied that the moral agent must obey the principles of the Categorical Imperative.
Can the two ideas exist together?

Question 20

Strength 3

Answer 20

The principle of universability emphasises that moral actions cannot be just in one society and unjust in another

Question 21

Weakness 3

Answer 21

Nagel and Williams criticise the theory for not allowing for the circumstances to be taken into consideration