Doctrine that the moral rightness of an act or policy depends entirely on its consequences; the moral goodness of the agent depending on the act’s expected or intended consequences.
This is one form of teleology, utilitarianism is one form of consequentialism.
Objections include the apparent moral counterintuitiveness of many consequentialist prescriptions, especially in connection with justice, reward and punishment, and with the difficulties in deciding what the consequences of an action are.
Also see: deontology
Source:
P Foot, ‘Utilitarianism and the Virtues’, Mind (1985); with discussion by S Scheffler
Table of Contents
- 1 Videos
- 2 Related Products
- 2.1 Consequentialism (New Problems of Philosophy)
- 2.2 Consequentialism and Its Critics (Oxford Readings in Philosophy)
- 2.3 Consequentialism (Wiley Blackwell Readings in Philosophy Book 7)
- 2.4 Consequentialism: New Directions, New Problems (Oxford Moral Theory)
- 2.5 Commonsense Consequentialism: Wherein Morality Meets Rationality (Oxford Moral Theory)
- 2.6 Beyond Consequentialism
- 2.7 Consequentialism
- 2.8 The Rejection of Consequentialism: A Philosophical Investigation of the Considerations Underlying Rival Moral Conceptions (Clarendon Paperbacks)
- 2.9 Thinking Through Utilitarianism: A Guide to Contemporary Arguments
- 2.10 Consequentialism
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