This entry organizes several duty-based approaches, including views centered on agents, the people acted upon, and justifiable principles of interaction. It compares their motivations and difficulties with consequentialist alternatives. Duties and rights therefore emerge as a diverse theoretical landscape rather than one universally agreed list.
A right or duty can function as a constraint on action rather than as a valuable outcome to be maximized. That difference helps explain why preventing several violations may not authorize committing one yourself. But deontological views vary in their explanation of the constraint and its limits. As you read, identify whose reason or claim is central, and ask how the view handles positive assistance, conflicts, and cases in which preventing harm requires difficult intervention.