Prima facie duty
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[edit] Prima Facie Obligations
"Prima Facie" evidence is factual information or physical proof that, when used in common law jurisdictions, denote evidence that is sufficient, if not rebutted, to prove a particular proposition or fact. This is known as the "burden of proof" in legal terminology.
When applied to deontological philosophy, prima faice obligations are those obligations to society that require action, or at least a response on your part. For instance, the obligation to save a blind person from accidentally crossing a busy intersection, when you have the ability to stop the probable ensuing accident, should be a reason enough to act in such a way as to save the blind pedestrian.
In any given situation, any number of prima facie obligations may apply, and in the case of an ethical dilemma, they may even contradict one another. The maximization of good is only one of several prima facie obligations which play a role in determining the content of the moral ought (moral obligation) in any given case. W. D. Ross gives a list of other such obligations, which he does not claim is all-inclusive.
