What is consequential theory?

What is consequential theory?

Consequentialism is a type of teleological theory — consequentialist theories suggest that the moral value, the moral rightness or wrongness of an act, is entirely a function of the consequences, or the results of that act.

What is consequentialism theory with example?

Consequentialism is an ethical theory that judges whether or not something is right by what its consequences are. For instance, most people would agree that lying is wrong. Two examples of consequentialism are utilitarianism and hedonism.

What is a consequence based ethical theory?

1. Consists of a group of ethical theories that place central importance on the consequences of an action, all of which maintain that an action is morally right only when its positive outcomes are maximized, and its negative effects are mitigated (e.g. utilitarianism, egoism).

What is an example of consequentialism?

A consequentialist would say that killing X is justified because it would result in only 1 person dying, rather than 10 people dying. A non-consequentialist would say it is inherently wrong to murder people and refuse to kill X, even though not killing X leads to the death of 9 more people than killing X.

What utilitarianism means?

Utilitarianism is a theory of morality that advocates actions that foster happiness or pleasure and oppose actions that cause unhappiness or harm. When directed toward making social, economic, or political decisions, a utilitarian philosophy would aim for the betterment of society as a whole.

What are the benefits of consequentialism?

Consequentialism is an attractive ethical approach because it provides clear and practical guidance – at least in situations where outcomes are easy to predict. The theory is also impartial.

What are the ethical consequences?

Consequence ethics is a philosophical approach to morality by which the results of an action determine the potential good of the action. Consequence ethics suggests weighing the consequences of choices and selecting actions likely to result in a good or the best effect.

What are the problems with consequentialism?

Problems with consequentialism The process of identifying and weighing all the consequences, or even a number of consequences deemed sufficient to make the decision, is often too time consuming for decisions that need to be made quickly. A second problem with applying consequentialism is observer or agent limitation.