Consequentialist Ethics and Accountability in Contemporary Society

Abstract

Various trends and orientations stand out from the history of ethics. Our attention focuses on three major aspects in this history, which will help us in the analysis of the decision-making process, in putting these decisions in effect and in taking accountability for the consequences of the decisional act. The perspectives under the lens are: the Aristotelian ethics of virtue, the utilitarian ethics or consequentialism, and the Kantian deontological ethics. By evaluating these types of ethics, we reach the conclusion that, confronted with the changes in the contemporary society, consequentialist ethics proves operational, both at the individual level and at the group, institutional or organisational level.