Deontic constraints are maximizing rules

• Main Author: HAMMERTON, Matthew
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2020
• Subjects: constraints; maximizing; deontology; consequentialism; agent-relative consequentialism; agent-centered restrictions; Ethics and Political Philosophy; Theory and Philosophy
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3144; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4401/viewcontent/Hammerton_2020_DeonticConstraints_av.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Deontic constraints prohibit an agent performing acts of a certain type even when doing so will prevent more instances of that act being performed by others. In this article I show how deontic constraints can be interpreted as either maximizing or non-maximizing rules. I then argue that they should be interpreted as maximizing rules because interpreting them as non-maximizing rules results in a problem with moral advice. Given this conclusion, a strong case can be made that consequentialism provides the best account of deontic constraints.