Notes about deontological ethics in peace studies

1. CLASSIFICATION OF ETHICAL THEORIES I
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS

2. competences
• The student;
1. Explains the concept of deontology
2. Examines the purpose of deontological thinking/reasoning in peace building
3. Explains the strength, and weaknesses of the two major versions of the
deontology normative ethical theories.
4. Discusses how to apply the two major versions of the deontology normative
ethical theories to moral problems, issues and dilemmas in professional life.
5. Elaborates on the concept of Prima facie
6. Discusses the seven prima facie of Ross

3. DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
• Deontological ethics or deontology is derived from the Greek word deon
meaning duty, obligation and logos which means study.
• Deontology considers duty or doing what is right for its own as the basis of
morality
• This duty-normative based ethical theory asserts that the consequences of
an action have nothing to do with whether the action is right or wrong, it is
thus non-consequentialism.
• Hence deontological theory is an ethical theory that focuses on rightness
and wrongness of the action rather than consequences of those actions e.g.
shooting the intruder.

4. Cont..
• According to Ferrell and Fraedrich, deontology is seen as moral philosophy
that focuses on the rights of individuals and intentions associated with a
particular behaviour rather than on its consequences.
• This means that deontological theories are based on the philosophy that
judging an action of an individual as morally right or wrong should not
depend on the consequences of the action but on the intentions of the moral
agent.
• Deontology as a normative ethical theory does not look majorly on the
consequences of the action but examines a situation for the essential moral
worth of the intention of the act, or rightness or wrongness of the act. Many
religious traditions are based upon deontology.

5. Cont..
• Unlike consequentialism, deontologist argue that certain behaviours are
fundamentally wrong, even if these behaviours bring about greater benefit
to the society.
• E.g. deontologist would consider it wrong to commit injustice against an
individual, no matter how much greater social utility might result from doing
so because such an action would be violating the moral principle of respect
for persons. Hence to decide whether a particular behaviour is morally right
, deontologist look for consistency to moral principles, not consequences.

6. Different deontological theories
1. Categorical imperative: refers to unconditional moral obligations which
binding in all circumstances and is not dependent on a person’s inclination
or purpose e.g. you should not steal, kill. It does not matter what your goals
are, you should follow.
2. Moral absolutism: asserts that there are absolute standards which moral
questions are judged. Against these standards certain actions are right
while others are regarded as wrong. For instance, theft is wrong. It ignores
that sometimes wrong act is done to reach out a right consequence.
3. Divine command theory: it asserts that an action is right if God has decreed
it to be right. As per this theory, the rightness of any action depends upon
that action being performed because it is duty, not because of any good
consequence arising from that action.

7. Nature of deontological thinking
a. IMMANUEL KANT’S DEONTOLOGICAL E THICS:
• Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was the most famous deontologist in the history of
moral philosophy. His theory was called Kantianism. This theory focuses on the
intention, motive or will behind an action. it is identified with an idea put forward
by Kant to the effect that the only thing that is good in all circumstances is good
will.
• Unlike the Utilitarians, Kant maintains that one ought to perform right actions not
because they will produce good results but because it our duty as moral agents
to do so.
• His moral philosophy is based on three major ideas: his idea of good will, his
notion of duty and his notion of categorical imperative.
1. On good will: he maintains that nothing is good in itself except good will. Kant
meant that good will is the only thing that is good without qualification; other
things regarded as good are not categorically good because their goodness can
be bad when misused

8. Cont..
• What then is good will? He sees goodwill as the human ability to act in
accordance with the moral law or as a will which acts for the sake of duty.
Humans are expected to act in conformity with moral laws or principles of
personal interests or consequences.
2. His notion of duty: Kant makes a distinction between two types of duties
“acting for the sake of duty and acting according to duty”. While he
considers the former as having a moral worth, he considers the latter as
having no moral worth
For him, acting for the sake of duty is the only way that one’s action can be
said to have moral worth. What does it mean to act for the sake of duty and
according to duty.

9. Cont..
• To act for the sake of duty, Kant says is to act not because one hopes to gain
anything from the act, not because one just feels like doing it or because one
has a natural inclination to doing such things, but purely out of reverence for the
moral law.
• To act according to duty, on the other hand, Kant asserts is to act out prudent
consideration for one’s interest.
3. His notion of categorical imperative: Kant makes a difference between
hypothetical imperative and categorical imperative. A hypothetical imperative is
a conditional imperative which requires an individual to do something which is a
means to an end. These imperatives command conditionally on your having a relevant
desire. E.g. If you want to go to medical school, study biology in college.‖ If you don’t want
to go to medical school, this command doesn’t apply to you. Another example, your father
says, "If you are hungry, then go eat something!" - If you aren't hungry, then you are free to
ignore the command.
Categorical imperatives: These command unconditionally. E.g. ―Don’t cheat on your
taxes.‖ Even if you want to cheat and doing so would serve your interests, you may not
cheat.

10. The categorical imperative of Kant has two formulations;
The moral rules as per Kant follow from two principles namely
1. Principle of universality: by universality he meant that moral law must be
possible to apply it to all people. In this one should "act only in accordance
with that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it become
a universal law.” In lay terms, this simply means that if you do an action,
then everyone else should also be able to do it.
2. Principle of reciprocity: it says that in many social situations we pay back
what we received from others. In other words if John does you a favour, you
are likely to return it to him

11. Reasons for considering Kant’s ethics deontological
1. Kant argues that to act in the morally right way, people must act from duty.
(to follow the moral law also known as the categorical imperative).
According to Kant, to act in the morally right way one must act purely from
duty.
2. Kant argued that it was not the consequences of actions that make actions
right or wrong but the motives of the person who carries out the action. Kant
then argues that the consequences of an act of willing cannot be used to
determine that the person has a good will; good consequences could arise
by accident from an action that was motivated by a desire to cause harm to
an innocent person, and bad consequences could arise from an action that
was well-motivated.
3. Kant argued that the only absolutely good thing is a good will, and so the
single determining factor of whether an action is morally right is the will, or
motive of the person doing it. If they are acting on a bad maxim, e.g. "I will

12. Strengths of Kantian theory
1. Stresses on objectivity of moral standards
2. In assessing the moral worth of an action, account has to be taken of
human motive
3. Universality of human behaviour is quite valid
4. The categorical character of morality comes out well in Kantian ethics
5. It encourages a mutual relationship between the professional and clients

13. Criticisms of Kant’s view:
1. It stresses the universality of moral law as inherent in us.
2. Kant stresses on duty rather than desire insures that moral goodness is
based on truly objective criteria and is free of all considerations of regard
as well as individuals objective emotion.
3. It is also enlightening that Kant places such emphasis on appraising the
moral goodness of any act and law treatment of people are based on
equality not on the individual’s subjective feelings.
4. According to Kant an Act performed without a sense of duty is morally
neutral which would seem not only untrue but also inhuman in certain
circumstances e.g. a mother’s love or generosity to the poor are these
things really morally neutral, unless performed from a sense of duty.

14. Cont..
4. We fall back on duty only when other motives fail. Duty is rather the
last barrier against wrong action, than the highest motive for right
action.
5. He provides us with a rational basis for rights and duties but fails to
take into account that duties can conflict and also fails to provide a
frame work for resolving such conflicts
6. It is occasionally difficult to apply general principles to particular
unusual circumstances. It can also be argued that moral duties
cannot be separated from consequences of fulfilling those
obligations. e.g. The reason that the duty, to tell the truth, is such a
fundamental principle is that truth telling produces good results for
society.

15. DAVID WILLIAM ROSS DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
• William David Ross was a British Philosopher(1877-1971) . He developed a
pluralistic moral theory that has more than two fundamental moral rules; he was
a pluralistic deontologist. He had a unique term for these non absolute rules. He
called them principles of prima facie duty.
• He agrees with Kant that morality basically should not rest on consequences but
he disagrees with the unbending absolutism of Kant’s moral philosophy. Ross
thinks that moral duties are prima facie rather than absolute.
• The term prima facie is a Latin term which means “at first appearance or based
on first impression. According to Ross, a prima facie duty is a duty that is
binding or obligatory, other things being equal. E.g. the duty to tell the truth,
obey law, protect clients, children from harm.
• This term can be understood as the self-evident raw intuition that strikes us first.

16. Cont..
• For him moral duties cannot be absolute because there are specific
situations in which these moral duties come into conflict. For instance, you
are to choose between keeping a promise made to a friend and visiting a
loved one that is sick in the hospital.
• What is the solution to moral duties conflict? The solution that Ross
comes up with is to assert that morality is a two-stage process
we intuit our general obligation and
we use reason to see how they apply in particular situations.
• He uses the phrase prima facie obligation to explain and list seven
fundamental kinds of duties. All things being equal, we should obey the
prima facie. In the case of conflicting obligations, he believes we have to
use reason to see if one obligation will be more important than another,
these will eventually give us actual obligation.

17. Cont..
• It should be noted that Ross is of view that consequences play a role in the
application of moral principles. He is against the view that consequences
make an action right or wrong but he is of a viewpoint that a moral agent
needs to take into account the consequences when making moral choices.
• For instance breaking a promise are bad enough, then you must break the
promise
• Ross thinks that acting rightly means balancing different obligations coming
from different sources of morality. He believes that there should be more
than one source of morality. Hence he maintains that promoting happiness
and avoiding unhappiness is one source but not the only source.
• Some of the sources of morality according to him include; promoting
happiness and avoiding unhappiness, our past actions, fairness and the
right to others self improvement etc

18. Prima facie duties of David William Ross
1. Fidelity: telling the truth, keeping our promises, being faithful to our word
and meeting contractual agreements. This duty stems from one’s past
obligations and commitment. If you make a promise you have prima facie
obligation to keep it.
2. Reparations: repairing harm that we have done that is making up for the
wrongs we have done to others. This duty is also based on past actions.
3. Gratitude: appropriately acknowledging benefits that others have given us.
This stems from the previous actions of others that is when you receive
gifts or unearned favour and services from others.
4. Justice: (A duty to ensure people get what they deserve) ensuring that
virtue is rewarded and vice punished and avoiding the improper
distribution of good and bad that is not in keeping with what people merit
or deserve. This is an out going duty.

19. Cont..
5. Beneficence: a duty of helping others to improve the condition in the areas of
virtue, intelligence and happiness. This duty concerns the consequences of our
actions that is we are expected to increase happiness.
6. Self-improvement: (duty to improve ourselves) making one more intelligent or
virtuous; the obligation one has to improve his or her own virtue, intelligence and
happiness. This also is an ongoing duty that entails striving to improve your
moral knowledge and virtue.
7. Non-maleficence: (a duty to avoid harming other people) preventing harm to
others and not injuring others. This duty also concerns the consequences of our
actions, that is we are expected to do no harm.
NB: From the above list of prima facie duties, it is obvious that Ross, like Kant
thinks that there are rules all individuals should conform to since it is their moral
obligation to do so

20. PURPOSE OF DEONTOLOGICAL REASONING IN PEACE BUILDING
1. Kant stressed that people should be treated with a sense of dignity as a
means to some ends which emphases unity in the society.
2. Kant asserts that moral action performed out of moral respect for moral
duty and out of emotional feeling emphasizes unity and reduces conflicts
among people hence leading to peace.
3. Kant emphasizes the idea of empathy which encourages treating other
people in a way we want to be treated which reduces misunderstandings
conflict among people hence leading to peace.
4. According to Kant, if you want to be moral you must respect the
fundamental duties that are absolute and unconditional e.g. always tell
things which bring honest for one another hence leading peace.
5. Kant stresses the universality of human behaviour to be valid which
emphasizes good conduct in the society hence leading to peace.

21. Cont..
6. David William Ross emphasized justice in society which prevents the
improper distribution of goods among the people this makes people feel
more loved in the society hence leading to peace.
7. According to David William Ross, consequences should not be left out
when making moral decision because human beings have prima facie
duties they must respect and obey hence leading to peace due to
obedience.
9. Ross emphasizes faithfulness through telling the truth, keeping actual and
implied promises thus meeting the contractual agreement with reduces
conflicts hence leading to peace.
10. Ross also encourages reparation which involves making up for the wrong
we have done to the others hence leading to peace due to unity.

22. Cont..
11. Ross, encourages beneficence involves helping others on how to
improve their conditions for the good which promotes love hence
leading to peace.
12. Ross encourages self-improvement which involves the obligation to
improve on our own virtue, happiness and intelligence in order to be
good servants which helps people share with others hence leading to
peace
13. Ross encourages gratitude in people where they should recognize
what people have done for them and extending their appreciation to
them in an ordinary language e.g. Thank you” which creates peace
among people.

23. Guiding questions
• Critically examine Kantian and Rossian versions of deontological theories of
morality
• Explain and critically analyse Kant’s Categorical Imperative
• What are the prima facie duties?