  By contrast, some moral philosophers have claimed that we have no general obligations of beneficence. We have only duties of beneficence that derive from specific roles and assignments of duty that are not a part of ordinary morality. These philosophers hold that beneficent action is virtuous and a commendable moral ideal, but not an obligation, and thus that persons are not morally deficient if they fail to act beneficently. An instructive example is found in the moral theory of Bernard Gert, who maintains that there are no moral rules of beneficence, only moral ideals. The only obligations in the moral life, apart from duties encountered in professional roles and other specific stations of duty, are captured by moral rules that prohibit causing harm or evil. In Gert’s theory, the general goal of morality is to minimize the causation of evil or harm, not to promote good. Rational persons morally should act impartially at all times in regard to all persons with the aim of not causing evil, he argues, but rational persons are not morally required to act impartially to promote the good for all persons at all times.