Consequentialism (Including Utilitarianism)
Abstract
Consequentialism is the theory that the way to tell whether a particular choice is the right choice for an agent to make or to have made is to look at the relevant consequences of the decision: to look at the relevant effects of the decision on the world. It gives rise to many questions. Some are general questions as to how more precisely the doctrine can be defined and defended, and as to what the main forms of opposition are. Others are in-house questions that go to matters of detail in the specification of the theory. This article offers an overview of positions on those questions.