WD Ross's ideas on how we should actPart IWilliam David Ross was a Scottish philosopher, born in the late 1800s. He studied at the University of Edinburgh and then at Balliol College of Oxford, England. Ross had different views from other philosophers as he was a moral realist. He thought there were moral truths in the world, as black and white as mathematics. It was different from consequentialist thinking that: do what brings the greatest good; saying that choosing one's actions to produce the greatest good was only one of many prima facie duties. (a) Prima facie duties were obligations he outlined that should determine a person's actions in most situations. (b) Prima facie means "at first sight" in Latin, and W. D. Ross invented duties that were binding if all other things were equal. The prima facie tasks presented by Ross were:1. Loyalty: He believed that one should keep promises and contracts and should not deceive others. This would include lies and deception.2. Reparation: This duty would have to do with compensation for injuries caused to others. This means that if you have wronged someone else, you have a duty to right the wrong.3. Gratitude: You must be grateful for the good deeds done to you and, if possible, pass them on to others.4. Non-injury: Requires a person to avoid injuring another person physically or psychologically. This includes not harming their happiness, safety or health, and it also includes their character (in these cases today we say that defamation can be a crime, because it hurts someone's character). In addition to avoiding intentionally harming others, this also includes injuries resulting from negligence or ignorance. In ignorance,... middle of paper... she or more weapons harm, thus strangely fulfilling the prima facie duty of beneficence by not injuring more people. He would also improve himself by working in a field that could help him get a better job, and he would help his family by providing financial support to his wife and children. Hopefully the research he has done will never be used, and so he would not violate his duty not to harm others. Ross's prima facie duties are a good guideline, but not all moral decisions are clear as an obligatory rule. In life we ​​are faced with many decisions that have positive and negative aspects, and we must be able to make judgments in order to truly say that we did the right thing. Sometimes we don't know the full ramifications of our actions, but we hope to act in a way that we can truly be at peace and know we did the right thing.