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when my friend is planning to kill his parents owing to some discord? The teleological reply is 'no', the deontological reply seems to me to be 'yes'. Thus the teleologist believes in hypothetical imperatives and the deontologist, in categorical ones.
Having explained the two general types of tests or criteria of rightness of actions or rules, I propose first, to examine the forms of deontological positions upheld by moral philosophers and secondly, shall go on to the utilitarian positions regarding the issue under consideration: While examining these theories, I shall endeavour to bring out the contribution of the Jaina ethics to the problem of the rightness of actions.
(i) The deontologist may take two positions, (a) actdeontology and (b) rule-deontology.
(a) For the act-deontologist, particular actions are in themselves intrinsically right or wrong without regard to the goodness or badness of their consequences. The moral judgement that in this situation, I ought to do so and so is a function of the immediate intuitive knowledge of the rightness or wrongness of an action in a particular situation. In other words, the rightness or wrongness of actions is ascertained by simply looking at the actions themselves without considering their consequences, i.e. it is cognizable apart from the goodness or badness produced by them, either for oneself or for the society. It may be noted here that the act-deontologist may hold without contradicting himself that the gener)] mile cop be formed ipqirect]y by makipa jee of the general rule can be formed indirectly by making use of perceptions regarding the rightness or wrongness of particular acts. But this general rule cannot outweigh the particular judgement considering the rightness or wrongness of particular action.
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Spiritual Awakening (Samyagdarśana) and Other Essays
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