Deontology - The Ethics of Duty Explained | Ethics101 | K M Pathi #Ethics — Transcript

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1. 0:00imagine your disaster relief faci shal
2. 0:03and you promised Aid to a village I
3. 0:06repeat you promised Aid to a village but
4. 0:08later you realize there's one more
5. 0:10Village which is in Greater need of Aid
6. 0:13now you are caught in a bind as an
7. 0:16official should you keep up your promise
8. 0:19or should you help a village which is in
9. 0:22Greater need now these are not simple
10. 0:24ethical choices now these are choices
11. 0:27where you have to make a choice about
12. 0:30Duty overcoming
13. 0:37[Music]
14. 0:43consequences in today's session we'll
15. 0:45explore the meaning of deontology what
16. 0:48exactly is Duty ethics its importance in
17. 0:51civil services and personal life the key
18. 0:54philosophers who contributed to this
19. 0:57approach and lastly we'll also talk
20. 0:59about its relevance to ethical decision
21. 1:01making its advantages and disadvantage
22. 1:04the word deontology is D from a Greek
23. 1:06word Dion which means Duty and this
24. 1:11approach unlike consequentialism does
25. 1:14not focus on ends it focus on duties it
26. 1:17focus on obligations it focus on rules
27. 1:21in fact this whole approach revolves
28. 1:23around this question do we understand
29. 1:26our
30. 1:27duties now as a human being we we all
31. 1:30have duties towards each other and this
32. 1:34approach is not end focused this
33. 1:36approach is mean focused this approach
34. 1:39focuses on principles rules duties and
35. 1:44obligation there are three key features
36. 1:47of deontology the first one is moral
37. 1:50absolutism deontology often entails a
38. 1:53belief in absolute moral principles that
39. 1:56apply universally the next feature is is
40. 2:00it's Duty centered the focus of this
41. 2:03approach is on performing one's small
42. 2:05duties irrespective of personal desires
43. 2:08or external circumstances and lastly
44. 2:12deontology is also called rule-based
45. 2:14ethics because your actions are
46. 2:16evaluated against a predetermined set of
47. 2:20rules or maxims let's look at the basic
48. 2:23ideas of deontology and the first one is
49. 2:26Duty and
50. 2:28obligations deont emphasize that every
51. 2:31individual has a duty to
52. 2:34follow or as an obligation to
53. 2:37fulfill and most of these duties or most
54. 2:40of our obligations stem from societal
55. 2:43rules legal systems moral laws which are
56. 2:46more Universal and objective for example
57. 2:50we all have a duty of not to lie we all
58. 2:54have a duty to respect others property
59. 2:57deontology relies on a system of Mor
60. 2:59rues rules and these rules Define what
61. 3:03actions are permissible and what actions
62. 3:05are impermissible in other words these
63. 3:07rules Define what is allowed and what is
64. 3:10not allowed intentions matter in
65. 3:15deontology the agent's intention or the
66. 3:17individual intentions matter quite a bit
67. 3:20unlike consequentialism which focuses
68. 3:22more on outcomes and goals here it's
69. 3:26intention set matter the last one my
70. 3:29favorite de strongly believe in
71. 3:31respecting persons they strongly they
72. 3:34were strongly against using persons as
73. 3:37means they believe that every single
74. 3:40human being is a end in themselves let's
75. 3:43look at the philosophers who contributed
76. 3:46a lot to the growth of this approach and
77. 3:49the moment I say deontology one thinker
78. 3:52that comes to mind or one philosopher
79. 3:54comes to mind is Kant Emanuel Kant he
80. 3:57was the one who put this approach on a
81. 3:59firm footing in fact some consider him
82. 4:02as father of deontology well let's not
83. 4:04get into father and mother of a subject
84. 4:07let's look into his contributions K's
85. 4:09theory is built around the concept of
86. 4:11categorical imperative a principle that
87. 4:14acts as a universal moral law and the
88. 4:17first categorical imperative States act
89. 4:20according to the maxim whereby you can
90. 4:23at the same time will that it should
91. 4:26become a universal
92. 4:27law for example
93. 4:30if one considers stealing they must ask
94. 4:33themselves what if everyone
95. 4:35stole if the answer leads to a
96. 4:37contradiction or undesirable world the
97. 4:40actions
98. 4:41impermissible the next
99. 4:44imperative is respect for person where
100. 4:47can't emphasizes on treating Humanity
101. 4:50whether in oneself or others always as
102. 4:53end and never merely as means the next
103. 4:56influential Deon cles Is WD Ross a
104. 5:00British philosopher who unlike Kant was
105. 5:03more of a pluralist he said there was no
106. 5:06there's not a single Universal principle
107. 5:08in fact he emphasize on set of primar
108. 5:11fasy Duties Ross's set of Duties include
109. 5:15Fidelity keeping promises reparation
110. 5:18rectifying past wrongs gratitude
111. 5:21acknowledging service of others Justice
112. 5:24Distributing benefits and burdens fairly
113. 5:27beneficience promoting the well-being of
114. 5:29others selfimprovement enhancing one's
115. 5:32own virtual intelligence non-maleficence
116. 5:35avoiding harm to others the next
117. 5:38philosopher known for his contribution
118. 5:40de onology is John rolls a 20th century
119. 5:43political
120. 5:44philosopher he used elements of
121. 5:46deontology in his work car of
122. 5:48Justice he spoke about principles of
123. 5:51justice as fairness and he spoke about
124. 5:54how rights and Duties are the most
125. 5:57important elements for creating a just
126. 5:59and aair Society one concept of John RWS
127. 6:03which every civil servant asant should
128. 6:05know is whale of
129. 6:07ignorance and here RS proposed a thought
130. 6:10experiment where individuals design
131. 6:12principles of Justice without knowing
132. 6:14their position in society ensuring
133. 6:16fairness and impartiality the moment
134. 6:18somebody uses the word impartial you
135. 6:21should straight away think about John
136. 6:22R's wheel of ignorance rolls also argued
137. 6:25that basic rights and Liberty should
138. 6:27never be sacrificed for greater social
139. 6:30or economic advantages aligning with
140. 6:32deontological emphasis on rule-based
141. 6:35morality deontology as an ethical
142. 6:38approach has a special relevance for
143. 6:39civil services why because Civil Service
144. 6:42operates in a framework of codes rules
145. 6:46legal procedures and this perfectly
146. 6:49aligns with deontological ethics a
147. 6:51deontological approach emphasiz a strict
148. 6:54adherence to the law and ethical codes
149. 6:57ensuring fairness impartiality and
150. 6:59integrity
151. 7:00for example a civil servant may be
152. 7:02required to implement a policy
153. 7:04objectively even if they personally
154. 7:07disagree with its
155. 7:08outcomes by focusing on duties and rules
156. 7:11deontology Fosters or encourages
157. 7:14accountability civil servants are bound
158. 7:16to act in the public interest upholding
159. 7:19principles of justice and
160. 7:21equality deontology AIDS in maintaining
161. 7:23neutrality and avoiding bias crucial for
162. 7:26roles in governance where decisions
163. 7:28impact diverse populations besides civil
164. 7:32services deontology also has a great
165. 7:34relevance in our personal life in fact
166. 7:37it can provide us with a stable moral
167. 7:39compass by adhering to a set of moral
168. 7:41principles individuals can achieve
169. 7:44consistency in their behavior enhancing
170. 7:47trustworthiness and integrity the
171. 7:49emphasis on treating others as ends in
172. 7:52themselves promotes empathy mutual
173. 7:54respect and ethical
174. 7:56relationships now let's explore how
175. 7:59deontology helps in decision making in
176. 8:02fact it gives a very structured approach
177. 8:05to ethical decis making it provides
178. 8:07clear rules that can be applied in
179. 8:09various situations reducing ambiguity in
180. 8:12decision making by emphasizing on duties
181. 8:15and obligations deontology helps
182. 8:18individuals identify the morally correct
183. 8:20action even in complex
184. 8:22situations when faced with conflicting
185. 8:24duties deontologist can prioritize based
186. 8:28on the nature and urgency of each Duty
187. 8:30that's where Ross's Prima fasy duties
188. 8:33comes to help the onology as an approach
189. 8:36ensures that actions respect the rights
190. 8:38of individuals offering protection
191. 8:40against ethical transgressions such as
192. 8:43exploitation or discrimination as an
193. 8:45approach deontology has its advantages
194. 8:49that's why a lot of philosophers lot of
195. 8:51Scholars are very fond of this approach
196. 8:53and the first big Advantage is it's
197. 8:56consistent because it believes in
198. 8:59universe ival and objective rules so by
199. 9:02having rules which are very objective
200. 9:04and which are un which can be
201. 9:05universally applied across time and
202. 9:07space there's an element of consistency
203. 9:11if you remember the early part of my
204. 9:13lecture I spoke about moral rules one of
205. 9:15the key features of deontology is model
206. 9:17rules other what you have rules that
207. 9:20means there Lort of clarity rules tell
208. 9:22you what is allowed and what is not
209. 9:24allowed what is permissible what is
210. 9:26impermissible so becomes very very clear
211. 9:30because you're very you have an idea
212. 9:32this is what I can do good intentions in
213. 9:35fact people have a tendency generally we
214. 9:37humans have a tendency to look at
215. 9:39intentions we always use the word oh he
216. 9:42did a lot of good intentions and that's
217. 9:45a next advantage of uh deontology it
218. 9:49looks beyond the action it looks at the
219. 9:54intentions just imagine everybody around
220. 9:57you interferes in your life
221. 10:00just imagine everybody has an advice for
222. 10:03you everybody keeps telling you do this
223. 10:05do that oh don't do that how miserable
224. 10:08your life will be in fact you feel
225. 10:11nobody respects your
226. 10:13individuality in fact you feel autonomy
227. 10:16is
228. 10:17violated now that's the next advant of
229. 10:20advantage of
230. 10:21deontology now these philosophers the
231. 10:24deontologist emphasize a lot on respect
232. 10:26for person's rights autonomy just
233. 10:29imagine you're a strict believer of
234. 10:32dionic and you have lived your life in a
235. 10:34very principled Manner and one of the
236. 10:37rules that you have is always speak the
237. 10:39truth come what me ad you never
238. 10:42compromised with this rule the one day
239. 10:45after finishing your studies you just go
240. 10:47out you're planning to go to the park
241. 10:49and at that moment what if a neighbor
242. 10:51comes home and The Neighbor comes with
243. 10:53the request to babysit the 5-year-old
244. 10:55daughter I immediately agree being a
245. 10:58good neighbor you willingly agree and
246. 11:01you go there and meanwhile the neighbors
247. 11:03have left for the wedding you started
248. 11:05spending time with the baby girl and
249. 11:08when you're playing with her suddenly
250. 11:09the doorbell rack you went you open the
251. 11:12door when you open the door there was
252. 11:14this man standing and he very politely
253. 11:17asks you can you tell me where the girl
254. 11:19is because I'm here to kill the
255. 11:22girl now you are
256. 11:25caught as a person who always spoke the
257. 11:28truth and you knew very well if you
258. 11:30spoke the truth the girl gets
259. 11:33killed and if you lie that means you're
260. 11:38staying away from your
261. 11:40role so now you've caught a dilemma now
262. 11:44that is the issue with deic it's too
263. 11:46rigid it's too rigid the next
264. 11:50disadvantage one can think of is
265. 11:52sometime doing your duty can lead to
266. 11:54undesirable outcomes fine from a duty
267. 11:58perspective what you did is absolutely
268. 12:00right but the consequences for were
269. 12:02undesirable the consequences are
270. 12:04unpleasant so this complete disregard
271. 12:07for consequence is the next disadvantage
272. 12:10of deontology and remember something we
273. 12:13need to think about consequences also
274. 12:15it's not always about Duty the other
275. 12:18issue with deontology is what happens
276. 12:21when two duties
277. 12:23conflict what happens when your duty to
278. 12:25be honest and duty to respect someone's
279. 12:28privacy conflicts what you do in such
280. 12:31situations and here there's no clear
281. 12:33guidance here how to prioritize what
282. 12:36duties come first today we explore deont
283. 12:39logy its nuances its advantages its
284. 12:42contributional civil
285. 12:45services now what comes next is how to
286. 12:48apply deontology in case studies now
287. 12:52that is something which will be of
288. 12:53interest to you it's not about knowing
289. 12:55what deontology stands for it's about
290. 12:57applying them in case studies
291. 12:59and that is something which I'll do in
292. 13:01the next episode so do stay tuned for
293. 13:04that till then Happy learning