ABSTRACT
Ethical theories are used as input in the development of a code or other decision making procedures - "applied ethics". In the Western tradition, ethical theories are of two main types. Consequentialist theories evaluate acts, policies, practices and institutions according to their consequences. Most current decision strategies trace their ethical origin to utilitarianism. Deontological theories are non-consequentialist; deontologists deny that the rightness or wrongness of acts or rules is reducible to the value of their consequences. Kantians put a high value on justice and commonly criticize consequentialist theories as permitting, or even requiring injustices. Rule utilitarians can, and do, defend themselves against the charge of sacrificing principles to expediency, by claiming that rule-following itself has a positive utilitarian value. German philosopher Immanuel Kant's theory of the universalizability of ethical judgments is but one version of what author calls the categorical imperative. Existentialism and situation ethics contain valuable insights; in particular they help us to avoid oversimplification.
