Consequentialism is the idea that when we are evaluating the moral value of an action (deciding whether it is the right thing to do) we only care about the action’s consequences. Other ideals are only valuable to the extent that they might eventually promote good consequences.
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A prominent family of non-consequentialist moral theories is deontology. Deontological moral theories state the actions themselves are right or wrong according to some set of rules. These rules could include anything from “It is wrong to lie” to “Respect your parents” or “Do not drink alcohol”. These rules would determine morality first and foremost, even if they espouse actions that have negative consequences.
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Welfarism is the idea that when evaluating how good the consequences of an action are, we only care about the welfare (or wellbeing, or happiness and suffering) of individuals. This would imply that actions that bring about more beauty, honor, knowledge or other things we might consider good, only matter to the extent that they eventually bring about more well-being
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An example of an alternative to welfarism is rights-based ethics. This family of moral views claims that there are some inalienable rights, which it is immoral to take away, no matter the consequences. Different views in this family can consider different rights as protected, so may have very different implications on how you should act.
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Impartiality is the principle that when looking at the well-being of people and considering morality, we don’t care about the identity of the specific people. This means that we prefer creating more happiness no matter who ‘gets to enjoy’ this happiness. This view is very intuitive in the context of opposing racism, sexism, nationalism, etc. It means that we should fight against our own biases, which often give preferential treatment to those who are like us.
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Moral philosopher Peter Singer describes the concept of the expanding moral circle: How throughout history humans have been willing to consider more and more beings’ welfare: Earlier in human history, most people cared almost exclusively for themselves, their family or their tribe. Over time, the ‘circle’ of those we care about expanded to include more people, who are less and less like us. Today more than ever before, we’re aware of how pernicious these biases can be and how easy it can be to disregard certain communities or people when we consider morality, be it because of their gender, skin color, nationality or beliefs.
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- morality, moral circle,

(highlight:: With many moral questions, it’s easier to think about what’s definitely outside of your moral view, than exactly where you stand.
This can be done by trying to make specific statements about the bounds of your uncertainty like “helping one person avoid a painful illness for one year is more important to me than helping one chicken avoid a lifetime of abusive conditions, but is still probably less important than significantly improving the lives of 1,000 chickens”. The precise numbers aren’t the point. The important part is having an idea about where your moral range is. In some cases, even a very large range can still be informative enough to be very helpful in your eventual decision making.)
- View Highlight
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Consequentialism is the idea that when we are evaluating the moral value of an action (deciding whether it is the right thing to do) we only care about the action’s consequences. Other ideals are only valuable to the extent that they might eventually promote good consequences.
- View Highlight
-

A prominent family of non-consequentialist moral theories is deontology. Deontological moral theories state the actions themselves are right or wrong according to some set of rules. These rules could include anything from “It is wrong to lie” to “Respect your parents” or “Do not drink alcohol”. These rules would determine morality first and foremost, even if they espouse actions that have negative consequences.
- View Highlight
-

Welfarism is the idea that when evaluating how good the consequences of an action are, we only care about the welfare (or wellbeing, or happiness and suffering) of individuals. This would imply that actions that bring about more beauty, honor, knowledge or other things we might consider good, only matter to the extent that they eventually bring about more well-being
- View Highlight
-

An example of an alternative to welfarism is rights-based ethics. This family of moral views claims that there are some inalienable rights, which it is immoral to take away, no matter the consequences. Different views in this family can consider different rights as protected, so may have very different implications on how you should act.
- View Highlight
-

Impartiality is the principle that when looking at the well-being of people and considering morality, we don’t care about the identity of the specific people. This means that we prefer creating more happiness no matter who ‘gets to enjoy’ this happiness. This view is very intuitive in the context of opposing racism, sexism, nationalism, etc. It means that we should fight against our own biases, which often give preferential treatment to those who are like us.
- View Highlight
-

Moral philosopher Peter Singer describes the concept of the expanding moral circle: How throughout history humans have been willing to consider more and more beings’ welfare: Earlier in human history, most people cared almost exclusively for themselves, their family or their tribe. Over time, the ‘circle’ of those we care about expanded to include more people, who are less and less like us. Today more than ever before, we’re aware of how pernicious these biases can be and how easy it can be to disregard certain communities or people when we consider morality, be it because of their gender, skin color, nationality or beliefs.
- View Highlight
- morality, moral circle,

(highlight:: With many moral questions, it’s easier to think about what’s definitely outside of your moral view, than exactly where you stand.
This can be done by trying to make specific statements about the bounds of your uncertainty like “helping one person avoid a painful illness for one year is more important to me than helping one chicken avoid a lifetime of abusive conditions, but is still probably less important than significantly improving the lives of 1,000 chickens”. The precise numbers aren’t the point. The important part is having an idea about where your moral range is. In some cases, even a very large range can still be informative enough to be very helpful in your eventual decision making.)
- View Highlight
-