Deontology

Deontology posits that the rightness of an action is based upon its inherent quality, i.e., whether it corresponds to ones duty based on ones state in life (p. 242). Kant prescribed absolutes when it came to defining this quality, but others have not. Kant stated that a good will is good in itself and this goodness is not dependent upon performance or effects (p. 245). It is good, in other words, because it is doing what it should be doing. In a sense, this is similar to the idea of virtue ethics, because both rely on an idea of universalsgood defined in an absolute way. Frankena posits that one may break a promise (p. 262). Ross contends that we must intuit what is right by consulting deep within ourselves (p. 276). This is more or less what Carter Druses father tells the young man he must do when Carter says he will fight for the Union rather than for the Confederate South. Druse ends up firing at his father in the course of the

But can ones duty ever be to kill ones own father?

The story has echoes of Platos Euthyphro,...

…short time, is that Euthyphro is very likely rushing into action based on a self-righteous attitude that what he is doing is holy and good. Yet there is nuance to every moral situation, and this is something that is not clear in Kants deontology. It is also why virtue ethics may be the superior ethical system, since it is less arbitrary than deontology ala Kant but also situated in an objective standard. Individual consequences are important because every moral action is situated in the individualbut consequences have greater effects, too, such as how the impact others, and that also has to be consideredsuch appears to be the point of Plato and…