Ethical theories Deontology and NML

grade booster

Ethical theories Deontology and NML

In exam questions on ethical theories, choose one or two to focus on but make sure you are aware of all of them

All boards A2: deontology, natural law

Deontology

What it is

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• From the Greek deon (‘duty’), deontology sets fixed moral duties.

• Deontology may be regarded as an absolutist approach, since generally it does not allow rules to be bent/broken.

• By contrast with consequentialist systems, deontology is concerned with the intrinsic properties of actions, not their end results.

• Nancy-Ann Davis argued that deontological statements tend to be negatively formulated (don’t do this or that…), narrowly framed (specific) and narrowly directed (consequences don’t matter).

Immanuel Kant and deontology

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• Immanuel Kant: eighteenth-century German philosopher who thought that being moral requires rational behaviour (not just following our feelings).

• Humans seek the summum bonum (the highest good), which is where the highest virtue and happiness meet. Morality leads to this goal.

• According to Kant, the moral law is objective (true for everyone) and is expressed as ‘synthetic a priori’, meaning that it may be true or false, but is not directly known from our experiences (it is part of a rational mind).

• Kant claimed that moral statements are ‘categorical imperatives’, which means that they are binding for their own sake (not depending on anything else).

• To work out what makes a good moral rule (‘maxim’), Kant also introduced the categorical imperative, which he formulated in three tests: (1) for a maxim to be true, you must be able to allow that it could be a law for everyone, (2) never treat a person as a means, but only as an end, (3) live as in ‘a kingdom of ends’, assuming that everyone else will follow the moral law.

• Ultimately, Kant argued that being moral means freely choosing to follow duty for its own sake alone.

Strengths of deontology

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• Kant is probably correct to distinguish between morality and inclination: what is right is not always what we want (contrast Bentham’s hedonism).

• Deontology safeguards the rights of individuals, because it treats them as ends in themselves. It is not possible to use someone ‘for the greater good’.

• Appealing to reason is sane and constructive; surely we should be expected to give rational reasons for our ethics.

• It draws support from leading moral philosophers (Thomas Nagel) who would argue that we assume real duties in daily life.

Weaknesses of deontology

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• Ignoring consequences altogether seems perverse and unnatural.

• Deontology gives the individual no flexibility or choice: what if we need to tell a white lie to protect others?

• Peter Singer has criticised Kant for removing emotion and sympathy from ethics. Surely what we feel actually matters?

Natural moral law (NML)

What it is

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• Absolutist and deontological, NML prescribes fixed moral laws and real duties.

• It can be traced back to ancient ideas on natural morality: Aristotle, Cicero.

• Associated with Christianity: St Paul argued that people have a natural sense of right and wrong.

• The key theorist is Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologica.

Aquinas’ theory

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• The destiny of humans is to achieve union with God, following the basic law: ‘good is to be pursued and evil avoided’, everything else is based on this.

• God’s law is perceived in two ways: through reason and revelation.

So, being irrational is just as bad as ignoring God’s commands in the Bible.

• To explain why humans sin, Aquinas distinguishes between ‘real and apparent goods’. Humans sometimes do things wrong because they mistakenly suppose that they have made a good choice (apparent good). Really, they haven’t.

• Aquinas also distinguishes the ‘interior and exterior act’, meaning that an action is only moral if the interior intention is good, as well as the act itself.

• By studying God’s purpose in creation, Aquinas is able to set out five primary precepts: the key ideas of ethics. These include: (1) selfpreservation, (2) reproduction, (3) education, (4) live in society and (5) worship God.

• The more specific rules we then make are known as secondary precepts: rules which are derived from the primary precepts. For example, if I observe self-preservation, then we could have a secondary precept that suicide is immoral.

Strengths of NML

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• Being an absolutist system, it is a source of clear values and certainty.

• Its focus on reason allows it to be universal and focus on common moral ideas.

• Its emphasis on purpose gives humans positive structure in their lives.

Weaknesses of NML

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• Relativists argue that the world is full of different rules. There is no agreed moral law.

• Philosopher Kai Nielsen argues that there is no common human nature. We cannot claim that humans all have the same goals and drives.

• The unbending absolutism of NML makes it legalistic and inflexible.