Deontological ethics or deontology (from Greek δέον, deon, "obligation, duty")is the normative ethical position that judges the morality of an action based on the action's adherence to a rule or rules.It is sometimes described as "duty-" or "obligation-" or "rule-" based ethics, because rules "bind you to your duty." Deontological ethics is commonly contrasted to consequentialism, virtue ethics, and pragmatic ethics.