Consequentialism is the ethical theory that people should choose their actions based on the outcomes they expect will result. How to judge outcomes is not specified, but there are many typesParticular frameworks of consequentialism that specify how outcomes should be judged. For example, utilitarianism holds that the best outcome is that which maximizes the total welfare of all people, and ethical egoism holds that the best outcome is that which maximizes their own personal interests. Consequentialism is one of three main strands of ethical thought, along with deontology, which holds that people should choose actions which conform to a prescribed listbased on the merit of moral rules,the act itself, and virtue ethics, which holds that people should be judged by how virtuous they are, insteadas an assessment of by what actions they take.their entire history of actions.
Consequentialism is the ethical theory that people should choose their actions based on the outcomes they expect will result.
How to judge outcomes is not specified, but there are many typesParticular frameworks of consequentialismthatspecify how outcomes should be judged. For example, utilitarianism holds that the best outcome is that which maximizes the total welfare of all people, and ethical egoism holds that the best outcome is that which maximizes their own personal interests. Consequentialism is one of three main strands of ethical thought, along with deontology, which holds that people should choose actionswhich conform to a prescribed listbased on the merit ofmoral rules,the act itself, and virtue ethics, which holds that people should be judged by how virtuous they are,insteadas an assessment ofby what actions they take.their entire history of actions.