Deontology is a theoretical approach to ethics, which concentrates, on the rightness or wrongfulness of the actions, but not on the rightness or wrongness of the consequences of the actions. For a deontologist, whether the outcome is good or bad, what matters is the action itself. If a deed is a morally right, then one can do it. The action must conform to a moral norm. The categorical imperative is an idea from a German scholar by the name Immanuel Kant ( Lefkowitz, 2017 ). According to him, a categorical imperative is something one must do, no matter the circumstances. Categorical imperative follows the universal law; for instance, one must not kill, a categorical imperative person will not kill despite the outcome of not doing so.
To illustrate this ethical theory, an example is in a situation where a drug-resistant T.B breaks out in a nation; this scenario can be very communicable and deadly. It has the potential to spread out in few days or weeks within a country and eventually globally. The government of the day might order for a quarantine program and execution of the infected. As a professor of medicine, one may be tasked to oversee this, but there is a word that there is an unsanctioned drug, which is still under tests and has the possibility of curing this disease. The professor follows the instructions of quarantine but ignores the execution, he tries out the test drug but it fails, and eventually, the victims dies.
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From the illustration, the professor is a deontologist and respects ethical morality. The consequences of this disease are deadly but he defies instructions, as it is morally wrong for one to kill. He is categorically imperative as he did what he thought was morally right by trying to save the victims. From this, we can conclude that this ethical theory is guided by the morality of an action rather than the consequences.
Some theories are contrary to the above. For instance, a consequentialist stands with the notion of the end justifies the means. Even if killing is wrong, the more significant good will be served if the professor automatically executes the patients. In this scenario, what matters is the eventuality.
References
Lefkowitz, J. (2017). Ethics and values in industrial-organizational psychology . Taylor & Francis.
