The teleological/deontological distinction

Abstract

The teleological/deontological distinction was introduced in 1930 by C. D. Broad, and since then it has come to be accepted as “the” fundamental classificatory distinction for moral philosophy. I shall argue that the presupposition that there is a “single” fundamental classificatory distinction is false. There are too many features of moral theories that matter for that to be so. I shall argue that as it is usually drawn, the teleological/deontological distinction is not even “a” fundamental distinction. Another distinction, that between theories that make the right depend solely on considerations of goodness (axiological theories) and those that do not, is significantly more important.