deontology.

An approach to ethics emphasizing duties, obligations or constraints on action rather than consequences alone.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• deontological ethics
• deontology and consequences

On the page

The discussion of deontology focused on the duty the action violated.

Deontology did not mean that consequences were wholly irrelevant to every theory.

Usage notes

Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: Usually uncountable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: explicit explanation, scope and categorization, proof and interpretation, philosophical foundations. Disciplines: academic writing, formal reasoning, philosophy. Commonness: moderately common.