Deontology is a system of ethics that uses rules (versus more flexible beliefs) to establish right and wrong. Although every system of ethics rooted in deontology may not be absolute (black or white), it’s probably close. Immanuel Kant is the best-known Western deontological philosopher. He believed, for example, that lying is wrong almost 100% of the time because it violates the categorical imperative.
Kants famous First Formulation of the Categorical Imperative reads:
Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law. Kant taught morality as a matter of following maxims of living that reflect absolute laws. Universal is a term that allows for no exceptions, and what is universal applies always and everywhere. Lying, for any reason, is universally wrong.
*****Be sure to listen to Kant’s audio lecture, *(you will find it in the Files tab, under the Philosopher Audio Transcripts and Philosopher Lecturettes) before posting this week!
So, consider the famous case of the Crazed Murderer. In your town the Crazed Murderer comes to your door looking for your friend and wanting to kill him. The crazed murderer asks you if he is inside or at his own house. You know that your friend went home to hide. What do you tell the murderer? Be sure to use Kant’s theories to support your decisions. You should have many possibilities. Reply to your fellow students choices with Kants theories.
Then, add your answers to the questions below or, if you post later in the week, reply to your classmates’ posts.
- Do you believe that lying is always bad/wrong? If so, why? If not, when specifically is it acceptable? Examples?
- What would actually happen if most people believed as Kant did, and almost no one ever lied? Think in terms of the media. What examples can you find of lying and its effects, especially from the media/social media/internet sphere?
- How do you feel when you learn that you’ve been lied to? What does this feeling tell you about language and its role in our relationship to reality?
throughout your study of ethics as the person who devised a
Categorical Imperative. What, you may ask, is that? It is a
statement of my view of ethics, in a positive, direct order to follow.
My Categorical Imperatives states that you should Act only according to
that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a
universal law. Stated in an easier way, you should Act in such a way that
you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of another,
always at the same time as an end and never simply as a means.
Many people call me a Universalist, or an Absolutist, because I feel that if
you believe it is wrong to lie, then you should never lie, even if the end result
is not good. If lying is wrong, then it is always wrong. If you believe it is
wrong to kill, then you should never kill, even if the end result is not good. If
killing is wrong, then it is always wrong.
Your class will discuss this during your threaded discussions this week by
discussing the situation of the Crazed Murderer. Many of you will wonder,
What would Kant do? If you read the accompanying lecturette and discuss
this well in the threads this week, I believe you will understand my
philosophy on ethics well enough to be able to answer this question at the
end of this week. Good luck and work hard in the threads. I hope you will
espouse my ethical view after this week for the rest of your life.
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