DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS. No single idea captures all of the features in virtue of which an ethical theory may deserve to be called a deontology. In one sense, a deontology is simply theory of our duties, something most ethical theories have. But philosophers mean to convey more by calling a theory deontological. Roughly, a deontological theory denies in some way that the good or what is of value, always takes priority over the right or duty. What this denial comes to, however, depends on whether it is meant in a normative or in a metaethical sense.
Taken in a normative sense, deontologies deny that we always ought to rank the overall value of the states of affairs produced by alternative actions, and on the basis of this decide how we ought to act. At least sometimes, deontologists hold, it would be wrong to bring about the best overall states of affairs according to such prior rankings. Theories holding that there are absolute rights for instance, are deontological in this sense,......
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