Deontological Versus Teleological Ethical Systems

Deontological Versus Teleological Ethical Systems


Sherry Green


ADJ/235

November 11, 2012
William Hubbard

Deontological Versus Teleological Ethical Systems

Ethical formalism judges the morality of an act and if the act or
intent comes from good will, which makes this a deontological ethical
system. For example, if there is someone stranded on the side of the road
and then another driver comes by that person has to decide help or just
keep going. A good act would be that the driver decides to stop and help
the stranded driver but unless the driver does this out of good will is it
ethical formalism, if the driver does it because they expect something is
not moral and is not done out of good will (Pollock, , 2012).
Utilitarianism determines the morality of an act by how much good
benefits society from the consequences of the act, which makes this a
teleological ethical system. For example, the assassination of terrorist
such as Osama Bin Laden after 9/11 would be considered immoral but the
result of the assassination improves the safety of the people of the United
States. So the consequence of this action is interpreted as good because
utilitarianism determines that the assassination was necessary for the
safety of the people whether the act is considered immoral.
Religious ethics system is the most frequently used ethic system
because it provides moral guidelines and directions in a person's life
based on the religious beliefs of good and evil that conforms to God's
will. For example, the Ten Commandments tells a person which behaviors are
defined as wrong, such as "Thou shalt not steal", which states that
stealing is wrong. Religion is hard to classify it under either ethical
formalism or utilitarianism because there are so many different religions
that have their own beliefs and morality.
Natural law is the morals and rights that are determined by the rules
of nature and are not human made. This is ethical system is different from
ethical formalism, utilitarianism, or religion because we as humans may not
know what the moral rules or disagrees what moral rules are but what comes
natural is the correct thing to do. For example, a person breaks into your
house to do harm to you and you defend yourself is natural law, because it
is in human nature to protect your own life.
Ethics of virtue is based on the character of a person rather than
moral rules or consequences to determine on what is moral or immoral, which
this ethical system can be considered as a teleological ethic system
because the actions of a person is to achieve a happy life. And people who
have virtues make the right decision when they are faced with a moral
dilemma. For example, someone goes to the grocery store and a pays the
cashier for the groceries in cash and when the person receives the change
and realizes that the cashier gave back more change than was suppose to be
given back, such as giving the person $10.00 dollars back instead of when
it should have been a $1.00 bill, this person tells the cashier that they
gave them too much back which shows the virtue of that person as being a
honest person (Pollock, , 2012).
Ethics of care is determined by human relationships and needs rather
than moral rules or consequences to determine what is moral or immoral. So
this ethical system morality is based on caring and natural human response
of compassion. This ethic system identifies the needs of individuals in any
moral situation, but is different from utilitarianism because not just one
person can be sacrificed for others; also through human relationships that
situations are resolved from compassion. For example, is a woman that just
became a mother and her natural response is to care for the newborn baby.
Egoism is defined as the pursuit of self-interest is a moral good,
meaning that people use others for self gain and do not recognize the
rights of others; which make people naturally selfish and self-serving. For
example, an individual who steals a car is only thinking about themselves
and ignoring the rights of the car owner; another example, your friend
calls to see if you will come help them move and you go over to help move
with the expectation that your friend will help you when you need a favor
(Pollock, , 2012).
So the deontological and teleological system of morality is that the
deontological system is based on actions themselves, where the teleological
system is based on the consequences of actions. I would have to say that
the natural law morality matches my beliefs because I think all individuals
do know the difference between right and wrong with comes naturally.









References
Pollock, J. (2012). Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions in Criminal Justice.
Retrieved from University of Phoenix eBook.