> And I write: What does "deontological framework" mean? Is this an
> oxymoron? (Possibly the oxymoron to end all oxymorons?) But seriously, I
>
> don't mean to be glib but the referent of this phrase is not at all clear
> but perhaps you are referring to texts I am not familiar with.
>
I think it is a reference that you are not familiar with. To put it
simply, deontological morality refers to a Kantian and post-Kantian (i.e.,
early Rawls) insistence that the right is prior to the good. In other
words, that an action or arrangement should be judged as moral insofar as it
is right, insofar as it accords with a set of rational rules or imperatives
which are derived independently of any conception of the good. Thus, for
Kant, morality had to follow from a categorical imperative whereby duty is
willed, so that mere compliance with the rules is not sufficient. Or for
Rawls, the basic structure of society should rest upon rules which do not
presuppose some prior conception of the good life but rather maximize
freedom (understood in terms of individual rights) for everyone to live
his/her own conception of the good. The standard line made by deontologists
against utilitarians is precisely that the latter presuppose a conception of
the good, that they make this good prior to the right (the rules, in short,
are to be judged on whether they maximize the good of general happiness,
conceived in various ways by Bentham, Mill and others), and that this
position could justify the removal of rights from some individuals to
satisfy the good of others.
Anyway, deontology has very little to do with being non-ontological
in the way you are thinking above. It doesn't mean simply 'ontic' -- since
the ontic realm is one that Kant, for example, would find insufficient to
ground morality.
Hope the above also does something to answer Greg's initial
question.
Later,
Nathan
n.e.widder@xxxxxxxxx
> >
> >
>
>
> [The sport of understanding is a game without rules, forever demanding
> that
> we make them up as we go...
> Chris Daly]
>
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