Consequentialism

The philosophy of life that concentrates on aftermath of actions and declares that future depends on the present conduct is known as consequentialism. It suggests that morally right acts provide favorable results. Consequentialism might look similar to deontology and virtue ethics, but it is totally different. Deontology speaks about the right or wrong aspects of a character and virtue ethics speaks about the character as an agent. In our perspective about consequentialism, we deal with results of an action. A consequentialist determines the validity of an action and allows it based on the positive or negative results of the action.

Consequences may be based on pleasure which is the ultimate aim. But the philosophy also questions as to who meets the consequences? Is it the agent or another person? When the results are met by the agent, the action becomes agent focused and when it is disconnected from personal pleasures of the agent, it is known as agent neutral. Agent neutral consequentialism decides on the action that has to be taken while the agent focused consequentialism is based on the needs of the agent.

Consequentialism does not limit with humans and some consequentialist argues that since animals experience pleasure and pain, they are also object to moral concern. The responsibility of an agent drives him to arrive at moral decisions. Sometimes consequentialism seems to resemble utilitarianism. Individual moral agent finds it difficult to observe his deeds because he does not have a complete picture of his situation and the results of his deeds. As a result the agent should inform himself the maximum information about his action.

Utilitarianism, ethical egoism and altruism, rule consequentialism, motive consequentialism, negative consequentialism and teleological ethics are different types of consequentialism. Utilitarianism observes people being driven by interests and fears into actions. Pleasure seems to be the ultimate goal. Ethical egoism is bothered only about the consequences for the agent. In ethical altruism, one is more bothered about the pleasure of his environment than himself. Rule consequentialism is a sort of deontology where moral behavior is based on rules. Motive consequentialism argues that an act cannot be wrong if the motive or reason is correct. Negative consequentialism aims at reducing the bad or undesirable effects. Teleological ethics speaks that an act is good or bad on its own terms irrelevant of the consequences. Critics argue that consequentialism is unable to explain what is wrong about the morally wrong action. Few others say that consequentialism does not provide guidance for an individual regarding forthcoming actions. Others argue that consequentialism does not take an impersonal view of actions.

Questions:

• What is meant by consequentalism?
• Write the types of consequentalism?