Teleological ethical traditions concentrate on the purpose of - or the intention behind - human actions - what the goal of a given decision is.

Consequentialist ethics - base moral judgments on the outcome of a decision or action - if outcome positive or beneficial then it is held to morally right.

2 main consequentialist theories are egoism and utilitarianism

Egoism - one's elf is, or should be the motivation for all our actions. Distinguish descriptive argument - describes human nature as self centered and argues that we only ever act in self interest. Egoism as a Normative argument - tells that we should be acting in our own interest as that way overall welfare can be improved. Adam Smith, capitalism

Utilitarianism - JB and JSM - 19th Century - rather than maximise individual welfare, focus on collective welfare, greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people. Greatest happiness principle.

Utilitarianism - maximising benefits for the greatest number of people - involves net assessment of benefits - net result of benefits and disbenefits

Utilitarianism - 3 essential elements - 1. right or wrong determined solely by its consequences 2. the value of the consequences is assessed in terms of amount of happiness or well-being caused 3. When there are a number of people happiness is equal no one's happiness greater than an others.