What is more important to a good act intention or consequences?

There are two kinds of people in the world; the ones that believe that the consequences of an action outweigh the importance of intention, and those that feel that intentions are all that matter. Consequences are measurable outcomes that are a direct result of our actions.

Do consequences matter more than intentions?

New research finds that when choosing to punish or reward accidental behavior, individuals tend to focus on outcome, rather than a person’s intent. Outcomes matter more than intention when choosing to punish or reward individuals who’ve caused accidents, according to new research from Harvard University.

Are intentions or outcomes more important when judging whether actions are moral?

In conclusion, a person’s intentions are more important than the action’s effects when determining wrongness. Since a moral judgement should be immune to luck, and effects are more affected by luck than intentions, the injustice of moral luck clearly leads to this conclusion.

Does intent matter in ethics?

Moral intent is the desire to act ethically when facing a decision and overcome the rationalization to not be ethical “this time.” Even if a person sees the ethical aspects of a decision and has the philosophical tools to make the right choice, he or she still needs to want to do the right thing.

What is more important intention or action?

In other words, two exact actions, with the same consequences, are treated differently because of the intent behind those actions. One action may result in insurance coverage, while the other action might not.

What ethical theory focuses on intentions?

By focussing on a person’s intentions, it also places ethics entirely within our control – we can’t always control or predict the outcomes of our actions, but we are in complete control of our intentions. Others criticise deontology for being inflexible.

How important is intention in ethical decision making?

Some researchers (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980; Dubinsky & Loken, 1989) point to the importance of intent in making moral decisions, and agree that intent is used by individual decision makers to form a moral judgment by using the available information to make as rational and moral a decision as is possible (Johnson & …

Why do intentions matter more than actions?

What matters even more than your actions are the consequences of your actions. This means that intentions do matter, but only insofar as they cause you to engage in actions that make your life and the lives of people around you better.

What are ethical consequences?

Consequence ethics is a philosophical approach to morality by which the results of an action determine the potential good of the action. Consequence ethics suggests weighing the consequences of choices and selecting actions likely to result in a good or the best effect.