Traditional approaches to ethical theory

The view that the rightness or wrongness of actions and institutions is a function of the goodness or badness of their consequences.

1. Utilitarianism

The view that the rightness or wrongness of actions and institutions is a function of something other than the goodness or badness of their consequences. (Rights views and views like Kant's are often called "deontological" because of their emphasis on duty rather than good consequences.)

2. Rights views

3. Kantian ethics

4. Virtue theories

Two approaches which are generally rejected by contemporary ethical theorists.

5. Relativism

6. Theological ethics