Teleological anddDeontological

Ethical Theories
 Introduction
Ethics of Doing (Ethics of Conduct)
 What makes an act right or good?
 There are two general answers to this question
that create the two main divisions in the Ethics
of Doing (= Action-based Ethics = Ethics of
Conduct):
 1. Teleological Ethics = Consequentialist Ethics.
The morality of an act is based on the outcome or
consequence of the act.
 2. Deontological Ethics = Nonconsequentialist
Ethics. The morality of an act is based in the act
itself.
 Types of teleological ethics

1. Utilitarianism ( most well known of

utilitarian moral theory is classical
utilitarianism
2. varieties of ancient Greek virtue
ethics( Aristotle’s ethics is the most
influential example)
 Aristotle
 According to Aristotle,
the goal of ethics is to
explain how one
achieves the good life
for human beings.
Aristotle considers the
good for man to be
eudaimonia, which is
most often translated as
happiness.
 Teleological Ethics
 The teleological (= consequentialist) ethical
system call Utilitarianism.
 The moral or ethical act in a particular situation is
the act that increases what is good for the greatest
number of people.
 The “what is good for the greatest number of people” is
taken to be the happiness, pleasure of the greatest
number of people.
 Teleological
 …Thus health is the end
of medicine
 Teleological
 “…victory [is the goal]
of strategy,…”
 What Are We Weighing When We
Consider Teleological Arguments?
 On a standard taxonomy, moral
theories divide up according to how
they specify the relation between
the "right" and the "good."
 In other words, moral theories may be
classified according to how their theory of
value and their theory of right relate to one
another. There are, it is said, two possible
ways in which the theory of value may
connect up with the theory of right action.
This is either a teleological connection or a
not a teleological connection.
Deontology: an ethical theory

holding that acting from a sense of

duty rather than concern for

consequences
 Introduction
Deontological Ethical Systems
 Three deontological systems of ethics (= acts
themselves are intrinsically good or bad):
 The Divine Command Theory. A good act is whatever
God wills, and a bad act whatever God prohibits.
 Natural Law Ethics. Our reason can discern which acts
are good or bad because God has imprinted this
information in our natures and in the world about us.
 The ethics of Immanuel Kant. There is a “moral law” that
is part of the fabric of reality in the same way as are the
laws of logic and mathematics, a law that is encapsulated in
the “Categorical Imperative” (= “The Golden Rule”).
 Deontological
A deontological theory
(e.g. Kant’s) maintains
that the wrongness of
(some) actions is
intrinsic, or resides in the
kind of action that it is,
rather than the
consequences it brings
about .
For example, an act of killing an innocent man is
wrong ,nam tneconni na fo gnillik eht si ti esuaceb
erutuf fo enoemos sevirped ti esuaceb naht rehtar
oS .ylimaf a ot feirg sesuac dna ssenippah
thgir fo noiton eht enifed ton od seiroeht lacigolotnoed
doog fo noitomorp eht fo smret ni noitca
ton si noitca na fo ssenthgir ehT .secneuqesnoc
ti sekam siht dna ,seveihca ti laog eht yb denimreted
.yroeht larom a sa lacigoloelet non