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deontology

deontology

1 9.6
A moral theory that judges actions by rules and duties, not by results
  • noun
  • /diˈɒn.təˌlɑː.dʒi/
  • Specialized
translation icon : deontología
  • One expert referred to "ethically strong decisions." We understand ethical analysis to refer to the use of ethical theories such as deontology or consequentialism; it may also refer to philosophical methods such as thought experiments, which are used to elicit ethical principles or judgments for use in actual cases.
  • deontology and consequentialism
  • deontology and utilitarianism
  • deontology and virtue ethics

Khan's third claim is that duty, which is the central notion to deontology Day on duty is at the core of deontology.

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Examples

  • Deontology understands ethics to be about following the moral law.

    Academic text (2017)
  • The basic question of deontology is "What is my duty?"

    Academic text (2017)
  • According to deontology, that duty can be understood in the form of laws.

    Academic text (2017)
  • Deontology meshes very well with both specialist and popular understandings of how an ethical machine might come into being.

    Academic text (2017)
  • The premise of the movie—that Robot is guided solely by his duty to Frank—seems to put deontology at the center.

    Academic text (2017)
  • The basic question of deontology is "What is my duty?"

  • According to deontology, that duty can be understood in the form of laws.

  • In deontology, ethics is viewed predominantly as adhering to moral rules.

Surface Forms

deontology singular
deontologies plural

Morphology

deontology = deont + ology

The word is built from classical combining forms meaning roughly 'duty' and 'study', but these elements are not regular standalone English words, so most learners cannot infer the meaning from the parts.

Etymology

The word deontology comes from the Greek part deon meaning 'duty' and the ending -logy meaning 'study', the same ending you see in biology. So, deontology is the 'study of duty', which explains why it judges actions by rules and duties rather than by their results.