ABSTRACT
Ethics is fundamentally concerned with two questions: ‘What ought we to do?’, and ‘Why ought we to do it?’. In seeking to address these questions an ethical theory in turn typically involves two components: a theory of the right and a theory of the good. The first component tells us what we, as agents, should do by way of responding to valuable properties. Consequentialist theories of the right tell us we ought to act so as to promote designated values: i.e. the relation between values and agents is an instrumental one. non-consequentialist theories of the right tell us we ought to act so as to honour designated values: i.e. the relation between values and agents is a non-instrumental one in that actions are supposed to exemplify the designated values, even if this means a lesser realization of value overall.1
