Editing Consequentialism (section)

==Classification==
One common view is to classify consequentialism, together with [[virtue ethics]], under a broader label of "teleological ethics".<ref name="Britannica">{{Cite web |title=Teleological ethics |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/teleological-ethics |access-date=5 August 2020 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Proponents of teleological ethics (Greek: ''[[telos]]'', 'end, purpose' and ''[[logos]]'', 'science') argue that the moral value of any act consists in its tendency to produce things of [[Intrinsic value (ethics)|intrinsic value]],<ref name=":0" /> meaning that an act is right ''if and only if'' it, or the rule under which it falls, produces, will probably produce, or is intended to produce, a greater balance of good over evil than any alternative act. This concept is exemplified by the famous [[aphorism]], "the [[End (philosophy)|end]] justifies the [[Instrumental and intrinsic value|means]]," variously attributed to [[Machiavelli]] or [[Ovid]]<ref>Cfr. [[wikt:the end justifies the means|"the end justifies the means"]] in the Wiktionary.</ref> i.e. if a goal is morally important enough, any method of achieving it is acceptable.<ref>{{Cite web|title="The end justifies the means"|url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/end-justifies-the-means|website=Cambridge English Dictionary}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Mizzoni|first=John|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AsGbVvQA23oC&q=consequentialist&pg=PA97|title=Ethics: The Basics|date=2009-08-31|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=9781405189941|page=97 f., 104}}</ref>

Teleological ethical theories are contrasted with [[deontological]] ethical theories, which hold that acts themselves are ''[[inherent]]ly'' good or bad, rather than good or bad because of extrinsic factors (such as the act's consequences or the moral character of the person who acts).<ref>Thomas, A. Jean. 2015. "[http://www.minerva.mic.ul.ie/Vol19/Deontology.pdf Deontology, Consequentialism and Moral Realism]." ''Minerva'' 19:1–24. {{ISSN|1393-614X}}.</ref>