Consequentialism (ethics)
Consequentialism is a normative ethical theory that evaluates the morality of actions based on their outcomes. The central tenet of consequentialism is that an action is deemed morally right or wrong depending on the results it produces, with a focus on maximizing positive outcomes for the greatest number of people. This approach leads to various interpretations, as individuals may have differing opinions on what constitutes a "good" or "bad" outcome. For instance, while utilitarianism—an influential form of consequentialism—holds that an action is morally right if it generates greater overall good than harm, other branches like ethical egoism and ethical altruism focus on outcomes for the individual versus the collective.
Consequentialism contrasts with other ethical frameworks such as virtue ethics, which emphasizes moral character, and deontology, which bases morality on adherence to rules regardless of outcomes. While proponents of consequentialism argue for its practical approach to decision-making, it also faces criticism for the unpredictability of outcomes and for potentially overlooking important ethical considerations, such as fairness and character. By focusing solely on consequences, consequentialism invites ongoing debate about the complexities of moral decision-making and the implications of its application in real-world contexts.
Consequentialism (ethics)
Consequential ethics, or consequentialism, is a type of normative ethics. Normative ethics is a branch of ethics that tries to determine the best way for people to live. Normative ethics concentrates more heavily on the general principals of right and wrong than on individual actions. Consequentialism claims that an action is either morally right or wrong depending on its outcome or outcomes. Consequentialists believe that the action that provides the most positive outcome for the most people is the right action, so a consequentialist must carefully consider which action to take. While consequentialism dictates that the action with the best outcome should be followed, it does not indicate which outcomes are good or bad. In other words, consequentialists may disagree about the ethics of certain actions because they have different ideas about what constitutes a good and bad outcome.
Types of Consequentialism
Intended consequences are not always the consequences that arise when a person takes an action. This has led to different branches, or types, of consequentialism. For example, imagine that Person A gives money to an organization thinking that it will help the poor. However, the organization actually uses the money to traffic weapons. Although the outcome of Person A's action was bad, Person A did not intend for that outcome to occur. According to the most basic understanding of consequentialism, Person A made a morally wrong decision regardless of his or her intention. Other understandings of consequentialism deal with the issue of consequences and intended consequences differently. According to expectable consequentialism, the morally right action is the action that is expected to have a good outcome. Expectable consequentialists would argue that Person A's decision was morally right because she did not know how her money would actually be used. Similarly, reasonable consequentialism states that an action is morally right only if it has the best reasonably expected consequences. This means that a person must come to a reasonable conclusion about the consequences of an action before taking that action; whereas with expectable consequences, a person does not have to make a conclusion about an action—the person simply has to choose the action because he or she expects it to have a good outcome.
Utilitarianism (codified in John Stuart Mills’s book of the same name) is another type of consequentialism. It states that an action is morally right if the overall good it creates is greater than the overall bad. Some consider utilitarianism problematic because it implies that harming people (to help more people) can be morally right at times.
Two other types of consequentialism are ethical egoism and ethical altruism. Ethical egoism states that the morally right action is the one that brings about the most good for the person performing the act. Ethical altruism is the opposite—it considers an action morally right if it helps others and not the person performing the action. Ethical egoism and ethical altruism differ from utilitarianism because utilitarianism considers the good and bad that will happen to the person performing the action as well as to others.
Differences Between Other Types of Normative Ethics and Consequentialism
In addition to consequentialism, virtue ethics and deontology are types of normative ethics. Virtue ethics is based on the principal that people should develop a good set of morals or values, and then they will always make the moral decision, regardless of the situation. This branch of ethics was popular in antiquity, with famous philosophers such as Plato and Socrates adhering to it. Consequentialism differs from virtue ethics because it focuses on the actions people take, while virtue ethics focuses on the agents doing the action.
Deontology is another branch of normative ethics. Like consequentialism, deontology focuses on actions and not the agents performing them. However, unlike consequentialism, deontology claims that an action is morally right or wrong based on a particular set of rules. It does not take into account the consequences of an action. This makes deontology and consequentialism near opposites. Furthermore, deontologists claim that some actions are neither ethical nor unethical, but consequentialists do not think these types of actions exist—because a person must choose an action with the best outcome, one action is always more ethical than the alternatives.
Benefits and Drawbacks of Consequentialism
Like other branches of ethics, consequentialism has benefits and drawbacks. Consequentialists believe that their branch of ethics is superior, mainly because only outcomes remain after an action has been performed.
In other words, once an agent performs an action, only the effects of that action are left. Since consequentialism focuses on having more good than bad after an action, consequentialists believe that this system is the best for making decisions.
A major drawback of consequentialism is that outcomes can be difficult to predict. Even if people believe that actions should be based on the best outcomes, they often find it difficult and time-consuming to think about which outcomes are likely to cause the most good. Furthermore, comparing the goodness of one outcome over another is difficult. This is especially true when an action will have many different consequences that will affect people in a number of ways. A final drawback of consequentialism is that it ignores some important factors that other types of ethics value. For example, consequentialists do not consider the character of the person doing the action or the fairness of the consequences.
Bibliography
Fieser, James. "Ethics." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Web. 23 July 2015. <http://www.iep.utm.edu/ethics/>
"Consequentialism." BBC. BBC. 23 July 2015. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/consequentialism‗1.shtml>
Haines, William. "Consequentialism." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Web. 23 July 2015. <http://www.iep.utm.edu/conseque/>
Sinnott-Armstrong, Walter. "Consequentialism." The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. The Metaphysics Research Lab, Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI), Stanford University. 27 Sept. 2011. Web. 15 July 2015. <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-deontological/>