Two Viewpoints of Morality

Consequentialist (teleological)
Morality is based on or concerned with consequences

Nonconsequentialist (deontological)
Morality is not based on or concerned with consequences

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Two Major Consequentialist Ethical Theories

Ethical Egoism
Utilitarianism Both theories agree that human beings ought to behave in ways that will bring about good consequences The theories disagree on who should benefit from these consequences
Ethical egoism act in self-interest Utilitarianism act for the interests of all
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Ethical Egoism
Ethical egoism is a philosophical-normative, prescriptive theory Three forms:
The individual form (everyone ought to act in my self-interest) The personal form (I ought to act in my own selfinterest, but make no claims on what others should do) The universal form (everyone should always act in his or her own self-interest)
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Ayn Rands Rational Ethical Egoism

Ayn Rand was the foremost exponent of universal ethical egoism (which she called rational ethical egoism)
Self-interests of rational human beings, by virtue of their being rational, will never conflict

That theory does not address the very real conflicts that do actually arise in our crowded and interdependent societies
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Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism maintains that everyone should perform that act or follow that moral rule which will bring about the greatest good (or happiness) for everyone concerned

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Act Utilitarianism
Act utilitarianism says that everyone should perform that act which will bring about the greatest amount of good over bad for everyone affected by the act
One cannot establish rules in advance to cover all situations and people because they are all different

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Rule Utilitarianism
Rule utilitarianism states that everyone always should follow the rules that will bring the greatest number of good consequences for all concerned
There are enough similar human motives, actions, and situations to justify setting up rules that will apply to all human beings and all situations

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Nonconsequentialist Theories
Consequences do not, and should not, enter into our judging of whether actions or people are moral or immoral What is moral or immoral is decided upon the basis of some standard or standards of morality other than consequences

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Act Nonconsequentialist Theories

One must approach each situation individually to decide the right action to take Decisions are intuitionistic, which means a person decides on a particular situation based on his or her intuition about what is right

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Intuitionism
Reasons in support of moral intuitionism:
Any well-meaning person seems to have an immediate sense of right and wrong Human beings had moral ideas and convictions long before a system of ethics was created

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Rule Nonconsequentialist Theories

There are or can be rules that are the only basis for morality and consequences do not matter The following of the rules is, itself, moral Morality cannot be applied to consequences that ensue from following the rules

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Kants Duty Ethics

Kant believed that nothing was good in itself except as a good will
Will is the unique human ability to act in accordance with moral rules, laws, or principles regardless of interests or consequences

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Imperatives
The Categorical Imperative: An act is immoral if the rule that would authorize it cannot be made into a rule for all human beings to follow The Practical Imperative: No human being should be thought of or used merely as a means for someone elses ends; each human being is a unique end
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