Is agent-neutral deontology possible?

• Main Author: HAMMERTON, Matthew
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2017
• Subjects: Agent-neutral; Agent-relative; Deontoogy; Moral theories; Philosophy; Theory and Philosophy
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2526; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/3783/viewcontent/267_Article_Text_694_1_10_20171222.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

It is commonly held that all deontological moral theories are agent-relative in the sense that they give each agent a special concern that she does not perform acts of a certain type rather than a general concern with the actions of all agents. Recently, Tom Dougherty has challenged this orthodoxy by arguing that agent-neutral deontology is possible. In this article I counter Dougherty's arguments and show that agent-neutral deontology is not possible.