Prima+facie+duties

= ** Prima Facie Duties ** =

[|Prima facie] is a Latin term used in the practice of law and in academic philosophy meaning “at first glance,” or “apparently correct.” 1

The notion of prima facie duties in philosophy originated with [|Sir W. David Ross]  (1877-1971), a Scotish philospher best know for his book, [|The Right and the Good](1930). Ross was a great proponent of the theory of ethical pluralism, also known as [|Intuitionism], which holds that "Good" is indefinable, that there are objective moral truths, and that moral truths are self-evident. =**Identifying the Duties**=

Prima facie duties, according to Ross, recognize that individuals are faced with daily moral choices where certain duties are either carried out or weighed against one another using our intuitive judgment. 2 Ross developed his theory based on prima facie duties because he was dissatisfied with the [|Utilitarian]  idea that morality could be reduced to a single question: Does this action maximize utility? Ross proposed that there are certain binding prima facie duties we can use to determine what it is we ought to do. He grouped these duties into six categories: 3

In addition to prima facie duties, there are also priority rules that can give us guidance when the basic prima facie duties seem to be in conflict. For example, “Non-injury normally overrides other prima facie duties and Fidelity normally overrides Beneficence (e.g. keeping contracts, which falls under Fidelity, normally overrides random acts of kindness).” 4 Ross more appropriately referred to these duties as guidelines. 5 Unlike [|teleological] <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> ethical theories which are based only on maximizing the good and minimizing the bad, prima facie duties and its overarching Intuitionist theory are considered <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">[|pluralistic] <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> in that they aren't rules without exceptions and <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">[|deontological] <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> in that they focus on the rightness or wrongness of the action itself instead of the consequense of the action. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Ross himself admitted his was an incomplete list of duties 6 and in 2004, <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">[|Dr. Jan Garrett] <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">, Professor of Philosophy at [|Western Kentucky University] <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">proposed three possible additional duties to Ross’s list: 7
 * 1) <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">**Fidelity and Reparation** – keeping promises made or implied and compensating for wrongdoing
 * 2) <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">**Gratitude** – returning favour for favour
 * 3) <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">**Non-maleficence** – avoiding injury to others
 * 4) <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">**Justice** – fair distribution of pleasure or happiness
 * 5) <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">**Beneficence** – improving the condition of others
 * 6) <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">**Self-improvement** – making ourselves better
 * 1) <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">**Respect for Freedom** – empowerment and non-coercion
 * 2) <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">**Care** – concern for and attendance to the needs of family
 * 3) <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">**Non-partisanism** – participation in society and law abidance

=**Critiques of the Theory**=

<span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The primary criticism of Ross’s prima facie list includes an assumption that a certain level of moral maturity is attained so prima duties can be recognized, applied and acted upon when making moral decisions. A secondary criticism includes the notion of intuition itself, which is rejected outright by ethical theorists like [|Immanuel Kant] <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">and John Stuart Mill  <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> because principles that claim to be self-evident are too vague. Intuitionists themselves have not found agreement on what is self-evident <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">. 8 <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Interestingly, Intuitionism was the main moral theory in Britain for two millennia, but lost favour among most philosophers shortly after the publication of Ross’s book in 1930, <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">[|The Right and the Good] <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">. 9 However, modern-day theorists like <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">[|Garrett] <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> and [|Phillip Stratton-Lake] <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> may be restoring new life into Ross’s theory.

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[1] Wiktionary http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/prima_facie <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> [2], [4], [7] <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">A Simple and Usable (Although Incomplete) Ethical Theory Based on the Ethics of W. D. Ross <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">http://www.wku.edu/~jan.garrett/ethics/rossethc.htm   <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> [3]<span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Waluchow, W.J. (2003). The Dimensions of Ethics, An Introduction of Ethical Theory: Broadview Press, Ltd. [5], [6], [9] <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Stratton-Lake, P. (Ed). (2002). //The Right and the Good.// New York: Oxford University Press. [8] <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~tlockha/hu329ov8.htm
 * References**