A duty-based approach for nursing ethics & practice

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to present a duty-based approach to moral decision-making. A duty-based system of doing ethics is technically known as deontology. This chapter focuses mainly on Immanuel Kant’s duty-based ethics as it is the major theory within the deontological tradition. The chapter explains some of the main features of Kant’s moral philosophy and its key terms such as autonomy, dignity and respect for persons, which have become part of the parlance of nursing ethics and practice.