Topic 10 - Moderate Deontology

Define prima facie duty

When there is a moral reason in favor of doing the act, but one that can be outweighed or overridden by other moral reasons. Has at least one right making feature.

Present Ross’s list of seven basic prima facie duties.

1. Fidelity

2. Reparations

3. Gratitude

4. Justice

5. Beneficence

6. Self-Improvement

7. Non-Malificence

Fidelity

If you make a promise, you have a prima facie obligation to keep it.

Reparations

If you have wronged someone, you have a prima facie obligation to repair it.

Gratitude

If someone has benefitted you, you have a prima facie obligation to benefit them in return.

Justice

See to it that benefits and burdens are distributed in a just or fair way.

Beneficence

Help people out.

Self-Improvement

Make yourself a better person.

Non-Maleficence

Don’t fuck anyone up.

State an “absolute” rather than a prima facie version of the duty of fidelity.

If you make a promise, you must always keep it.

Present your own counterexample to this absolute fidelity principle.

You promised to go see your niece’s ballet performance, but on the way you see a tree fall on someone’s car trapping them inside due to a blizzard. There’s no one else in sight and the person is stuck in their car freezing. You could help them get out if you miss the performance.

P1. By the absolute fidelity principle, you should keep driving past the person stuck in their car and freezing.

P2. But you shouldn’t drive past the person stuck in their car and freezing.

C. Therefore, the absolute fidelity principle is not true.

Explain whether this is also a counterexample to Ross’s prima facie version of fidelity, why or why not.

No because in Ross’s version people have a prima facie duty top keep their promises meaning there can be an overruling moral reason to break a promise. In this case, saving someone’s life overrules the promise to attend the ballet.

State Ross’s Theory of Prima Facie Duties (RTPFD)

An act is morally right if and only if it has the greatest balance of prima facie rightness over prima facie wrongness, as compared with the alternatives — where prima facie rightness and wrongness are determined by Ross’s list of duties.

What was RTPFD imply about Srinivasan’s drowning man case?

It would imply that you stop and help the drowning man because you have a prima facie of beneficence. Saving the man overrides going to the library.

Describe Ross’s promise/accident example.

You promised to meet your friend, but on the way a cyclist is in an accident and you are the only one who can help. If you keep the promise, the cyclist dies. If you break the promise, you save the cyclist.

What does NRT imply should be done in the promise/accident case?

You should keep your promise because you are not morally obligated to help the cyclist, they have no rights against you that you should save them, by NRT.

What does AU imply should be done in the promise/accident case?

You should break your promise to save the cyclist thus maximizing utility. Saving the cyclist produces more utility than keeping your promise to meet your friend.

What does RTPFD imply should be done in the case of the promise/accident case?

You should break your promise to save the cyclist because your prima facie duty of beneficence outweighs that of fidelity.

How does Ross think we should know in a situation like the promise/accident example which duty outweighs which duty?

Using your judgment in each situation.