Deontological

Ethics
Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment

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 1932-1972
Tuskegee, Alabama

390 illiterate
African-American
man with syphilis
 conducted by the
US Public Health
service

observe the
progression of
untreated syphilis

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researchers failed
to give the men
penicillin when it
was discovered

ended in 1972
because of major
controversy

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Justifiable
or
Immoral?
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 THE TUSKEGEE SYPHILIS STUDY
◈ The emphasis on personal autonomy and the idea that
people ought not to be used as they were in the
experiments are central tenets in the moral philosophy of
Immanuel Kant.
◈ Kant also maintains that there are certain things we
ought not to do, even if these things would produce the
greatest happiness for the greatest number.

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 Deontology
and the
Ethics of Duty
Kant’s theory of DEONTOLOGY
Ethics duties, obligations, = “theory of duty”
and rights

DEONTOLOGICAL THEORY

coined by
Greek word
“knowledge of what is Jeremy Bentham
= “duty”
right or proper”
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 DEONTOLOGICAL THEORY
◈ contrast with the utilitarian focus
◈ focuses on duties and obligations
◈ emphasize the right over the good

RIGHT ACTIONS + RIGHT INTENTIONS

= DEONTOLOGY
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 DEONTOLOGICAL THEORY
◈ focused on what makes people worthy of happiness

According to Kant, morality

“is not properly the doctrine of how we are to make
ourselves happy but of how we are to become
worthy of happiness.”
 TYPES OF DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS

DIVINE COMMAND DUTY THEORIES RIGHTS THEORIES

- an action is morally correct - an action is morally right if - an action is morally right if
whenever it is in agreement it is in accord with some list of it adequately respects the
with the rules and duties duties and obligations. rights of all humans (or at
established by God. least all members of society)

CONTRACTARIANISM MONISTIC DEONTOLOGY

- an action is morally right if it is in accordance - an action is morally right if it agrees with
with the rules that rational moral agents would some single deontological principle which
agree to observe upon entering into a social guides all other subsidiary principles.
relationship (contract) for mutual benefit
 STOICISM

◈ Doing one’s duty and playing their part as

determined by the natural order of things.
◈ the key to morality and happiness is internal,
a matter of how we orient our will and
intentions
◈ duty is its own reward

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Immanuel
Kant
(1724-1804)
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 Kant’s Moral Theory:
What gives an act moral worth?
 RIGHT MOTIVE
 DOING THE RIGHT THING
 THE RIGHT MOTIVE
◈ an act has moral worth only if it is done with a
right intention or motive/having a good will
◈ having a right intention means doing what is
right (or what one believes to be right) just
because it is right
◈ It is to act “out of duty,” out of a concern and
respect for the moral law.
 THE RIGHT THING TO DO

◈ for an action to have moral worth, we must

not only act out of a right motivation but also
do the right thing

MOTIVE ACT CONSEQUENCE

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 IMMANUEL KANT

HYPOTHETICAL IMPERATIVE
CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE

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The Categorical
Imperative
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 “
First Formulation:
THE UNIVERSALIZABILITY PRINCIPLE

“act only on that maxim that you can will as a

universal law.”
MAXIM- general rule/principle of action
UNIVERSAL LAW- something that must always be done
 FIRST FORMULATION
◈ we do only what we can accept or will that
everyone do
◈ whatever I consider doing, it must be something
that I can consistently will or accept that all
others do.

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 SECOND FORMULATION:
THE FORMULA OF HUMANITY

“Always treat humanity, whether in your own person or

that of another, never simply as mere means but
always at the same time as an end.”

MERE MEANS –using others for your own benefit

END – recognizing a person’s humanity
 SECOND FORMULATION

◈ we should treat persons as having value in themselves

and not just as having instrumental value.
◈ People are valuable, regardless of whether they are
useful or loved or valued by others
◈ We should not simply use others or let ourselves be
used.
 Evaluating
Kant’s Moral
Theory
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 EVALUATING KANT’S MORAL THEORY

To more fully evaluate Kant’s theory, consider the

following aspects of his thought:

◈ The Nature of Moral Obligation

“If there is anything that we morally ought to do, then
we simply ought to do it.”
 EVALUATING KANT’S MORAL THEORY
◈ The Application of the Categorical Imperative
Some have argued that when using the first form of the
categorical imperative, there are many things that I
could will as universal practices that would hardly seem
to be moral obligations.
◈ The second form of the categorical imperative also has
problems of application. In the concrete, it is not always
easy to determine whether one is using a person
 EVALUATING KANT’S MORAL THEORY
◈ Duty
Kant was not advocating any particular moral code or set of duties held
by any society or group. Rather, duty is whatever reason tells us is the
right thing to do.

◈ Moral Equality and Impartiality

One positive feature of Kant’s moral theory is its emphasis on the moral
equality of all persons, which is implied in his view that the nature of
moral obligation is universally binding.
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 EVALUATING KANT’S MORAL THEORY

◈ Another feature of Kant’s moral philosophy is

its spirit of impartiality. For an action to be
morally permissible, we should be able to will
it for all.

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 Perfect
and Imperfect
Duties
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Duties To self To others
(the duty one has to never harm herself) (the duty one has to others to keep
Ex. suicide her promises and to tell the truth)
Ex. Telling the truth
Perfect
(They are sometimes described
as necessary duties).
As the term suggests, perfect
duties are absolute.

Imperfect Ex. Cultivating your own talent (duty to Ex. Giving alms to the poor
some duties are more oneself)
flexible. Kant calls these
duties imperfect duties
(sometimes also called
meritorious duties)
duties that we are not
obliged to do 30
 Perfect and Imperfect Duties
◈ From the perspective of the first form of the categorical
imperative, we have a perfect duty not to do those things
that could not even exist and are inconceivable as
universal practices.
◈ Using the second form of the categorical imperative, we
have a perfect duty not to do what violates the
requirement to treat persons as ends in themselves.

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Variations on
Kant and
Deontology
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 THE GOOD WILL
◈ Nothing can possibly be conceived in the world, or even out of it, which
can be called good without qualification, except a good will.
◈ Intelligence, wit, judgment, and the other talents of the mind are
undoubtedly good and desirable in many respects; but these gifts of
nature may also become extremely bad and mischievous if the will
which is to make use of them is not good.
◈ Good will is good not because of what it performs or effects, not by its
rightness for the attainment of some proposed end, but simply by
virtue of the volition.
 ACTING FROM DUTY
◈ We have to develop the notion of a will , a notion which exists already
in the sound natural understanding, requiring to be cleared up than to
be taught.
◈ Men are thus honestly served
◈ On the other hand, it is a duty to maintain one’s life. Thus, everyone has
also a direct inclination to do so.
◈ To secure one’s own happiness is a duty, at least indirectly

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 ACTING FROM DUTY
◈ It is in this manner that we are to understand that we are commanded
to love our neighbor, even our enemy. For love, as an affection, cannot
be commanded, but beneficence for duty’s sake. This is practical love,
and it is this love alone which can be commanded.
◈ An action done from duty derives its moral worth, not from the purpose
which is to be attained by it
◈ The will stands between its a priori principle which is formal, and its a
posteriori spring which is material.
 RESPECT FOR THE MORAL LAW
◈ Duty is the necessity of acting from respect for the law.
◈ An action done from duty must wholly exclude the influence
of inclination.
◈ Thus the moral worth of an action does not lie in the effect
expected from it, nor in any principle of action which
requires to borrow its motive from this expected effect.
◈ The preeminent good which we call moral can therefore
consist in nothing else than the conception of law in itself.

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 THE CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE
◈ It is the simple conformity to law in general, without assuming any
particular law applicable to certain actions that serves the will as its
principle.
◈ The common reason of men in its practical judgments perfectly
coincides with this.
◈ Thus then, without quitting the moral knowledge of common human
reason, we have arrived at its principle. And although no doubt
common men do not conceive it in such an abstract and universal
form, yet they always have it really before their eyes, and use it as the
standard of their decision.
 MORAL AND NONMORAL IMPERATIVES
◈ Everything in nature works according to laws.
◈ Rational beings alone have the faculty of acting according to the
conception of laws, which is according to principles.
◈ The conception of an objective principle is called a command, and the
formula of the command is called an Imperative.
◈ All imperatives are expressed by the word ought, and thereby indicate
the relation of an objective law of reason to a will.
◈ A perfectly good will would therefore be equally subject to objective
laws
 MORAL AND NONMORAL IMPERATIVES

◈ All imperatives command either hypothetically or

categorically
◈ Accordingly, the hypothetical imperative only says that the
action is good for some purpose, possible or actual.
◈ There is an imperative which commands a certain conduct
immediately, without having as its condition any other
purpose to be attained by it. This imperative is categorical.

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 APPLYING THE CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE

◈ A man reduced to despair by a series of misfortunes feels wearied of

life, but is still so far in possession of his reason that he can ask
himself whether it would not be contrary to his duty to himself to
take his own life.
◈ Another finds himself forced by necessity to borrow money. He
knows that he will not be able to repay it, but sees also that nothing
will be lent to him, unless he promises stoutly to repay it in a definite
time.

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 APPLYING THE CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE
◈ Another finds in himself a talent which with the help of some
culture might make him a useful man in many respects. But he
finds himself in comfortable circumstances, and prefers to indulge
in pleasure rather than to take pains in enlarging and improving his
happy natural capacities
◈ These are a few of the many actual duties which obviously fall into
two classes on the one principle that we have laid down. We must
be able to will that a maxim of our action should be a universal law.
This is the canon of the moral appreciation of the action.

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 PERSONS AS ENDS

◈ First, under the head of necessary duty to oneself: He who

contemplates suicide should ask himself whether his action can be
consistent with the idea of humanity as an end in itself
◈ Secondly, as regards necessary duties, or those of strict obligation,
towards others: He who is thinking of making a lying promise to
others will see at once that he would be using another man merely as
a means, without the latter containing at the same time the end in
himself.

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 PERSONS AS ENDS
◈ Thirdly, as regards contingent duties to oneself: It is not enough that
the action does not violate humanity in our own person as an end in
itself, it must also harmonize with it.
◈ Fourthly, as regards meritorious duties towards others: The natural
end which all men have is their own happiness.
◈ The ends of any subject which is an end in himself ought as far as
possible to be my ends also, if that conception is to have its full effect
with me.
THANK
YOU!.

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