Consequentialism: An ethical theory that sees the ethical goodness or wrongness of an act as determined by the nonmoral consequences of the act, such as the amount of pleasure or pain the act produces. A good example is *utilitarianism, which claims that the morally right act is the one that produces the best consequences for all who will be affected. Consequentialist theories are contrasted with *deontological theories, which hold that rightness and wrongness are not completely determined by consequences.

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Evans, C. Stephen (2010-04-28). Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion (Kindle Locations 386-390). Intervarsity Press. Kindle Edition.