Humanised Deontologism: Theory and Praxis for Contemporary Moral Philosophising

Abstract

This work is committed to analysing two main divergent ethical theories, Kant’s Deontological Ethics and Utilitarianism, which have created a sharp division among moral philosophers since time of old. It is the hope of the researcher to find a meeting point for these two theories, canvassing the possibility of each complementing the other. The import is to synthesise the basic assumptions driving these theories to, firstly, bridge the sharp division and secondly, to make the theories as appealing and practicable as possible. By this we introduce what we call Humanised Deontologism, which would, in other words, be a deontological synthesis that appeals to real life situations as a result of a fusion of Kantian Deontology and Utilitarianism.