Deontology: duty and respect for persons
Deontologists hold that some actions are required or forbidden regardless of the good they would produce.
Kant and the good will
Immanuel Kant argued that the only thing good without qualification is a good will: acting from duty because it is right, not from inclination or for a reward. A shopkeeper who gives correct change only to protect his reputation does the right thing, but his action has no special moral worth. What matters is the principle, or maxim, on which a person acts.
The categorical imperative
Kant's supreme principle has two famous forms. First: act only on a maxim you could will to become a universal law. A lying promise fails, because if everyone made lying promises, promising would collapse. Second: treat humanity, in yourself and others, always as an end and never merely as a means. People are not tools to be used for someone else's goals.
Comparing the frameworks
Consider lying to spare a friend's feelings. A utilitarian asks whether the lie produces better results overall. A Kantian asks whether the maxim could be universal and whether it treats the friend as a rational person owed the truth. A virtue ethicist asks what honesty and kindness, guided by practical wisdom, would do here. Each framework highlights something the others can miss.
Flashcard
Ethics based on duties and rules
Check your understanding
Kant would object to a lying promise mainly because: