The view that there are some types of
action that are strictly prohibited by morality, no
matter what the specific facts are in a particular
case. Some have held, for example, that the intentional
torturing or killing of an innocent person is
morally impermissible no matter what bad consequences
could be prevented by such an action.
Absolutism is an especially strict kind of deontological
view. It is discussed by Thomas Nagel in
“War and Massacre.”