Deontology

Deontological methods of ethics are generally opposed to consequentialist methods insofar as they insist that the moral value of an action is wholly independent from the consequences of an action. Rather than focusing on consequences, deontological methods emphasize duty as the basis of moral value. In this way, deontological theories emphasize a principle of right action, or the right, over the good. Two well-known deontological theories are Kant’s Formalism and William Ockham’s Divine Command Theory. Both theories base a conception of right action on a conception of duty for duty’s sake and mainly differ in so far as they specify two different sources of these duties. For Ockham, the source of duty is the revealed law of God. For Kant, the source of moral duty is pure reason itself, which ascribes to the will a law of its own--the categorical imperative. Because of similarities between the methods and specific ethical prescriptions of the two theories, Kant’s theory has been characterized as "a Divine Command Theory without the Divine." Deontological theories in general are often criticized for being too legalistic and not providing an accurate account of human motivation.

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