Definition of "deontology"

deontology

/ˌdiːɒnˈtɒləd͡ʒi/

noun
usually uncountable, plural deontologies
1. (ethics) Ethics.
  Quotations
  Ethics has received the more expressive name of Deontology
  1826, Jeremy West (Rev. VI. 448), (Please provide the book title or journal name)
  Deontology is derived from the Greek words, το δεον (that which is proper) and Λογια, knowledge — meaning the knowledge of what is right and proper; and it is here specially applied to the subject of morals, or that part of the field of action which is not the object of public legislation. As an art, it is the doing what is fit to be done; as a science, the knowing what is fit to be done on every occasion." Deontology or, The science of morality : in which the harmony and co-incidence of duty and self-interest, virtue and felicity, prudence and benevolence, are explained and exemplified
  1834, Jeremy Bentham (of MSS), edited by Bowring (1834), (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 21
2. (ethics) The normative ethical position that judges the morality of an action based on the action's adherence to rules or obligations rather than either the inherent goodness or the consequences of those actions.