ABSTRACT
The consequentialist claim that right actions are those that result in the best outcome impartially considered is sometimes said to be especially illuminating for framing the basic challenges of global ethics. In this chapter, I make four observations about the consequentialist approach to global ethics. First, I show that in some of its most influential manifestations, the challenge is grounded in a substantial and controversial theory of practical reason. Second, I show how the implications of the consequentialist claim are limited by the fact that all else is never equal. Third, I argue that the consequentialist challenge retains its bite even if consequentialism is rejected as a comprehensive ethical theory. Fourth, I argue that one of the basic insights embodied in the consequentialist challenge is that a systematic attitude of complete indifference to the suffering of others is an important ethical vice.
