What is goal based ethics?

Answer 1

The question, "What is ethics about?" has two different answers. Some think it is about character, and the discussion is about cultivating various virtues and avoiding various vices. On the other hand, some think it is about actions, and the discussion is about telling the difference between right actions and wrong actions. In our age, it's much more common to think that ethics is about actions than it is to think that it is about persons. If ethics is about actions rather than persons, it's reasonable to ask, "What makes an action right (as opposed to wrong)?" Basically, there are two different ways of looking at an action. This provides three possible views. (1) We can look at the intention behind it, in other words, what the agent was trying to do. (This is a "deontic" position.) The only thing that matters in giving a moral evaluation of an action is the agent's intention in doing it. (2) We can look at the consequences or results that the action spawns. This is a "teleological" position. The Greek word "telos" means "end" or "goal." Therefore, this is also sometimes called a goal-based ethics. (It is also sometimes called "utilitarianism.") The agent's intention is irrelevant. The only thing that counts is what actually happens. (3) We can adopt a mixed view, which says that a right action has to have both good intentions and optimizing consequences. Therefore, a goal-based ethics is a teleological or utilitarian theory. Its basic tenant is that the only thing that makes an action right is whether or not it is optimizing, whether or not its good consequences outweigh its bad consequences.