Consequentialism

Consequentialism is the ethical view that an action’s rightness depends on the value of its consequences. It evaluates choices by the outcomes they produce rather than by rules or motives alone.

Utilitarianism: An ethical theory that evaluates actions by their effects on overall well-being. It is the best-known consequentialist family, judging outcomes by aggregate welfare.
Deontology: An ethical approach that grounds duties in rules or constraints rather than solely in outcomes. It denies that the best consequences always justify an action.
Jeremy Bentham: An English philosopher and reformer who founded classical utilitarianism. He made pleasure and pain the basis of a systematic consequentialist ethic.
Trolley problem: A family of moral dilemmas asking whether one may redirect a threat to save more people. Its variants test whether outcome-based reasoning permits sacrificing one person.
Utility monster: A thought experiment about a being that gains vastly more utility from resources than anyone else. It challenges whether maximizing total utility can justify extreme inequality.
Hedonism: The view that pleasure is intrinsically good and pain intrinsically bad. Classical utilitarian consequentialism uses pleasure and pain to measure outcomes.
Virtue ethics: An ethical approach centered on character and the virtues needed for human flourishing. It evaluates moral life through character rather than outcome-ranking alone.
John Stuart Mill: A British philosopher who developed utilitarianism and defended individual liberty. His account of higher and lower pleasures shaped later consequentialist debates.
Organ transplantation dilemma: A thought experiment in which killing one healthy person could save several patients with their organs. It probes whether maximizing lives saved can justify using someone as a means.
Repugnant conclusion: The claim that some population theories rank a huge population with barely worthwhile lives above a smaller, flourishing one. It tests the implications of aggregating welfare across possible populations.

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