According to Wikipedia.com, deontological derives
from Greek words deon means "obligation or duty". It is the
normative ethical position that judges the morality of an action based on
action to the rules. Deontological theory also commonly contrasted to consequentialism.
Consequentialism is the consequences of one conduct are
the ultimate basis for any judgment about the rightness of that conduct.
Kantianism is a theory of ethics made by Immanuel Kant.
He considered deontological for several reasons. He argues that to act in the
morally right way, people must act from deon
(duty).
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”.
Deontological theory also consists of two centred. First
is agent-centered and second is patient-centered. For agent-centered, people
have certain permissions or obligations based on their agency. For the example;
Parents can save their child instead of two other children.
For patient-centered, their actions based on rights
instead of obligations. They only focuses on a right that not to be used.
Some deontologists are moral absolutists, believing that
certain actions are absolutely right or wrong, regardless of the intentions
behind them as well as the consequences.
Deontological also have advantages itself. Deontological
allows people to stay very consistent because they would perform an act in practically
the same way each time they satisfy their obligation. The follower of
deontological ethic also often place
their duty or obligation between their family, friend or other people that they
familiar with.
The systems of deontological ethic also provide reason
for followers to indicate an act that is good but no morally required to be
done. An example for this is if a man hijacked a bus of students and said if
one person dies, then he will let everyone free. The teacher who believes in
deontology would volunteer to die because he feels that is his obligation to
protect the safety of his students.
However, deontological theory also has its disadvantages.
The major of its disadvantage is deontologist may not violate a duty to prevent
several violations caused by other people, and this is often called the
"paradox of deontological constraints". Other than that, the duty may
actually lead the disasters consequence. Also, for some duties, the
deontologist doesn't seem to have a logical reason for following it. For
example, a person may make it his duty to go to work on time, but why he made
it his duty is often unclear.
In addition, the system does not provide a good way of
dealing with situations where duties conflict with each other. Back to the man
above, if he is late for work, should the man break the law and speed to work,
endangering other people in the public, or should the man arrive to work late?
For my conclusion, I think the deontological can be done
or cannot be done based on the situation that people face it. Sometime it good
to followed the deontological and sometime can be make the situation become
worse.
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