Consequentialism and Its Variants

Abstract

After Chap. 3 introduced the Family Resemblance Approach to criticizing consequentialism, this chapter completes its first three steps. The first step consists in examining a paradigmatic consequentialist moral theory, viz. Classic Utilitarianism. It is factorized into a set of logical components. The second step aims to exploit a methodological shortcut that is part of the Family Resemblance Approach. This shortcut consists in showing that some distinctions between consequentialist theories are irrelevant, given the methodological commitments made in Chap. 2 . These versions are eliminated from the subsequent discussion. The third step examines non-paradigmatic versions of consequentialism that need to be examined to make a comprehensive case against the whole family of consequentialist theories.