Deontology is duty-based ethics, the approach to issues and problems by concentrating not on the eventual outcome and whether or not it provides a greater good or greater bad for stakeholders, but whether the steps or actions taken towards the end are right in themselves.

Say, for example, you have the view that stealing is wrong. Whatever the circumstance, a deontologist will avoid stealing, even if the result was of benefit to themselves or others. The duty to keeping that ethical code is the most important thing.

This can, of course, cause conflicts — such as in the circumstance of a man who has the choice of stealing money to buy medication to save his wife’s life or risking her death. A deontological approach would be that his duty to not stealing is the most important thing. However, a conflicting duty, to protect his loved ones, could then challenge the choices he has.

While a deontological approach to ethics may seem problematic, the idea of having duties — such as to caring for the sick, protecting the young, to being a vegetarian and the like — is not an unusual one. While an absolute approach would be impossible to achieve, we can see how duties have a place in ethical reasoning.