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Deontological theories of ethics
Essay on exploration of deontological ethics
Deontology ethics reflection
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The Ethical Philosophy that is of most interest to me would have to be the Deontological Ethics. The name derives from the Greek Language and translates to ‘The Science of Duty’. It is characterized as the choices we make according to what is “morally required, forbidden or permitted”. (Stanford, 2013, Para 1). This serves as a guide for us to make decisions based on the wrongs and rights of life and if the result of our actions will be morally acceptable or not. The Duty Theory, is the type of Ethical Type that I most identify with. I have always been compelled to keep obligations to myself, to God, the community/others and the world we live in.
These are clear obligations that we know we need to fulfill on a daily basis. This is a firm
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This would be lying to obtain my desired job. Yes, I would be fulfilling my need to have the job but I would be using fabrication to obtain it. I know, within myself, as much as I want to achieve success in life it is not through fabrication that I will get there. I understand that it is my duty to be honest and respectful towards myself and others. This is where Deontology Duty Ethic Theory plays a big role in the life decisions and actions we make. Understanding and living by this Ethical Philosophy is fundamental to our lives as it can cause a series of negative effects if we don’t follow these moral ethics. The example I have given is a classic example of why Deontology Duty Ethics are so vital to us. Many people go against this ethical behavior just to selfishly obtain their own happiness and desires yet they can’t maintain this lifestyle to others around them, to themselves and within a profession environment therefore it all becomes apparent and they soon get caught out and face grave consequences due to their actions. Our government and law enforcement systems have even made laws to penalize and imprison such people who act poorly, ethical or dutiful, with their decision-making. This illustrates the importance of this type of ethical
There are two basic types of ethical judgments: deontological judgements that focus on duty and obligation and eudaimonist judgements that focus on human excellence and the nature of the good life. I contend that we must carefully distinguish these two types of judgement and not try to understand one as a special case of the other. Ethical theories may be usefully divided into two main kinds, deontological or eudaimonist, on the basis of whether they take one of the other of these types of judgement as primary. A second important contention, which this paper supports but does not attempt to justify fully, is that neither type of theory trumps the other, nor should we subsume them under some more encompassing ethical synthesis.
Deontology is an ethical theory concerned with duties and rights. The founder of deontological ethics was a German philosopher named Immanuel Kant. Kant’s deontological perspective implies people are sensitive to moral duties that require or prohibit certain behaviors, irrespective of the consequences (Tanner, Medin, & Iliev, 2008). The main focus of deontology is duty: deontology is derived from the Greek word deon, meaning duty. A duty is morally mandated action, for instance, the duty never to lie and always to keep your word. Based on Kant, even when individuals do not want to act on duty they are ethically obligated to do so (Rich, 2008).
Ethics is an important proponent when considering any decision. Knowing the difference between right and wrong is something everyone should know. However, the importance of ethics gets minimized when a decision that seems wrong actually has benefits. In the efforts of improving society, often ethics is violated. Sometimes in order for society to be better off as a whole, there has to be little sacrificing of ethical practices along the way to do so.
Ethics is not a concept that is thought about often, but it is practiced on a daily basis. Even while unconscious of the fact, people consider ethics while making every choice in life. There are many theories to which people allude, but two radically different theories that are sometimes practiced are deontology and utilitarianism. Deontology deals with actions in a situation while utilitarianism examines the consequences of those actions. While polar opposites on the broad spectrum of ethics, deontology and utilitarianism are bioethical theories that can be applied to nursing practice and personal life situations.
By looking further into this dilemma using various ethical standpoints allows for a broad understanding of principles and complexity in a specific situation with these paradigms. The focuses are three prominent ethical paradigms such as: teleological utilitarianism, deontological duty theories and virtue based ethics. Each of these three paradigms will be applied to the aforementioned dilemma, each will be evaluated and the best option will be revealed.
Stocker highlights the constraints that motives impose on both ethical theory and the ethical life in order to show that only when justifications and motives are in harmony can people lead the good life. Stocker believes that mainstream ethical theories, like consequentialism and deontology, make it impossible for people to reconcile their reasons and motives because these theories demand that people perform acts for the sake of duty or for the good, as opposed to because they care about the people who are affected by their actions.
What is ethics? Ethics are the philosophical principles of good verses bad moral behavior. It is a guideline to help people make decisions or make a judgment calls. There are two main types of ethical principles that will be discussed in this paper, and how they are applied to the decision making process. They are Deontological and Utilitarian. Deontological ethics are based on the righteousness or wrongness of the action-taking place. It does not base itself on the bad or good consequences that come from the action. Immanuel Kant introduced deontological ethics in the 18th century. Kant believed that every decision or action made by a person had to be evaluated by his or her moral duty. He stated that humanity shouldn’t side on its
Different ethical frameworks exist. Deontological ethics theory is based on duty, rights, and intuitionism. Duty-based reasoning is an ethical framework based on the reasoning to do or to refrain from doing something. Rights-based reasoning is based on the
Ethics are moral principles that can be used to help guide peoples decisions. We are all different and therefore our beliefs and opinions differ. There are many ethical theories, and according to Panza and Potthast (n.d.) the following are some that are widely used. Virtue ethics is one theory which states that personality is the most important thing. Living an ethical life, acting right, requires that one develops and demonstrates the quality of courage, compassion, wisdom, and temperance. It also requires that greed, jealousy, and selfishness is avoided. Utilitarianism states that the amount of happiness and suffering created by a person’s actions is what matters the most. As a result, acting rightly includes maximizing the amount of happiness and minimizing the amount of suffering around you. At times you may need to break some of the traditional moral rules to achieve such an outcome. Kantianism is another theory which highlights the principles behind actions rather than an actions results. It states that it requires to be motivated by good principles that treats everyone with respect. If you’re motivated by good principles, you overcome your animal instinct and act ethically. Another ethical theory is the Contract theory, which suggest that ethics should be thought of as terms of agreements between people. It suggests that doing the right thing means obeying agreements set by members rather than those of society. For this theory ethics isn’t necessarily about character, consequences, or principles. The last theory I’m going to mention is Care ethics. Care ethics focuses on ethical attention on relationships before other factors. As a result, acting rightly involves building, strengthening, and maintaining strong relationship...
Making good ethical decisions requires a trained sensitivity to ethical issues and a practiced method for exploring the ethical aspects of a decision and weighing the considerations that should impact our choice of a course of action. Having a method for ethical decision making is absolutely essential. When practiced regularly, the method becomes so familiar that we work through it automatically without consulting the specific steps.
First, arranging moral precepts into ethical systems facilitates understanding of well-defined values, norms, and beliefs adopted by a group. In turn, groups express these beliefs by codifying them through rules, laws, and codes of conduct intended to influence decision-making, especially when a poor decision would lead to corruption, and loss of professional trust. More importantly, ethical systems provide moral justification for activities that appear to defy innate human instincts. Lastly, ethics provide insight into the cause and effect of a potential action or decision, allowing the group to determine what is right (ethical, effective, and efficient) within an established framework. All of these ethical characteristics are important to understand because they can compel an individual or group to act contrary to a universal human
The Level of Ethical Analysis: Sometimes one will run into the issue of not finding an acceptable moral to apply
As a branch of philosophy, ethics investigates the questions “What is the best way for people to live?” and “What actions are right or wrong in particular circumstances?” In practice, ethics seeks to resolve questions of human morality, by defining concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime. As a field of intellectual enquiry, moral philosophy
This means that a person will follow his or her obligations to another individual or society because upholding one 's duty is what is considered ethically correct (1,2). For instance, a deontologist will always keep his promises to a friend and will follow the law. A person who follows this theory will produce very consistent decisions since they will be based on the individual 's set duties.” (Rainbow). Deontology works on the concept “the end does not justify the means” ("Difference Between Utilitarianism and Deontology."). I believe that I will use Deontology in many different situation throughout my life. In my personal life I may find myself in a situation where my friend asks me to pick up his son from school because my friend has another obligation to attend to. According to deontology, the morally correct option would be to pick up his son from school because I would be upholding my duty to my friend. If I did not uphold my duty to my friend by not picking up his son from school, it would be the morally wrong option according to deontology because I did not go through with my obligation. In my professional life I plan to be a pharmacist. Pharmacists have access to many different drugs. A friend could ask me to steal drugs for him. According to deontology, the morally correct option would be to tell my friend that I could not steal
Philosopher David Hume divided the term “ethics” into three distinctive areas; meta-ethics, which focuses on the language used when talking about ethical issues. The general approach to this area of ethics is, it explores the nature of moral judgement, and it looks at the meaning of ethical principles. Normative ethics tries to find practical moral code that we can live by. It is concerned with the content of moral judgements and the criteria for what is right and wrong. Finally applied-ethics is the application of ethical theories and using them in real life issues such as medical research or human rights (Hume D, 2011).