Deontology: The Right Things Regardless Of The Consequences

Deontology can be defined as the study of the essence of duty. Deontology is derived from “deon”, a Greek word that means “duty”. Broadly, we can say that deontology is an ethical approach that concentrates on the rightness or the wrongness of an action, based on duty and rules rather than consequences. At its core, are ethical principles that exemplify ethical qualities. Also, these ethical principles assign and give rationale to particular ethical duties.

The ethical principles include beneficence, justice, respect for autonomy, and respect for persons. Beneficence is a regulation to facilitate the welfare of others through actions that will shave off damage, as well as those that will guarantee benefit. Justice is a regulation to deal with people equally while respect for autonomy Is the regulation to ensure and facilitate the self-governance of people. On the other hand, respect for persons is a regulation to respect a person’s identity and dignity and not use them for personal benefit.

Categorical Imperative is a theory of Immanuel Kano, a German philosopher. According to Kant, there is a prima tenet of morality, which infers our ethical duties. He called it, the categorical imperative. Kant states that a person is not supposed to do something that he or she will not allow other people to do. For example, if a person decides to lie to avoid hurting people, then that person should be okay if someone else lies for the same reason. The categorical imperative is common and equitable because people will act with respect for the dignity and sovereignty of human beings and not for their prejudices. (Mitchell, Chapter 10, 2015)

Kant also has a say about being a morally good person. He argues that the motivation of our actions determines if we are good or bad people and not the consequences of our actions. For example, I decided to donate the hugest amount of money to fundraising for cancer kids so that people can see me as a good person or to gain popularity. The money will be helpful to the children but the reason for my donation is not right because it was for my good and not the children's. According to Kant, moral worth is when you do something because it is your duty, whether youu like doing it or not.

Deontology and the categorical imperative agree that an action should be undertaken only if it is morally right. Take, for instance, a surgical dilemma where three patients are about to die due to organ failure while there is one patient whose organs can save the lives of the three. Deontologists and Kantians will do what they can to save the lives of the three patients without compromising the life of the healthy patient.

However, the consequentialist theory will advocate for the opposite to be done. Consequentialists hold that actions should be undertaken considering the state of incidents they bring about. They assert that choices that bring about or increase the good, are morally upright, and should be undertaken. Taking the surgical crisis example into consideration, consequentialists would take a different approach as to that of deontologists and Kantians. A consequentialist would suggest an organ transplant from the healthy patient to those with organ failure. Because doing so, they will save the lives three patients while only one dies and as a result, more good will be done than bad. (Mitchell, Chapter 10, 2015)

In conclusion, deontology asserts that one should do the right thing regardless of the consequences. Together with the categorical imperative, they focus on actions or choices rather than the outcomes, unlike the consequentialist theory. All these theories are open to criticism depending on what they deem as right.