English

Noun

deontology ‎(usually uncountable, plural deontologies)

1. (ethics) ethics

   1826 "Ethics has received the more expressive name of Deontology" Jeremy West. Rev. VI. 448

   1834 "Deontology is derived from the Greek words, το δεον (that which is proper) and Λογια, knowledge — meaning the knowledge of what is right and proper; and it is here specially applied to the subject of morals, or that part of the field of action which is not the object of public legislation. As an art, it is the doing what is fit to be done; as a science, the knowing what is fit to be done on every occasion." Deontology or, The science of morality : in which the harmony and co-incidence of duty and self-interest, virtue and felicity, prudence and benevolence, are explained and exemplified : from the MSS. of Jeremy Bentham ed. Bowring (1834), p. 21.

2. (ethics) the normative ethical position that judges the morality of an action based on the action's adherence to rules or obligations rather than either the inherent goodness or the consequences of those actions.

Coordinate terms

• consequentialism
• utilitarianism

Derived terms

• deontological
• deontologist

Related terms

• deontic

Translations

References

• deontology in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• deontology in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• deontology at OneLook Dictionary Search