ABSTRACT
Consequentialism is sometimes accused of giving insufficient weight to morally significant themes such as the integrity of the agent and distributive justice. The objection concerning integrity is related but distinct. If it is obligatory to optimise value, then no room is left for acts of supererogation, and all acts, but for the minor exception of pairs of alternatives which are equally optimific, will be either obligatory or (since an alternative course of action is more optimific) impermissible. Optimising consequentialism should be modified with regard to matters such as trivial favours and the gratification of desires. Because of its bearing on the limits of obligation, a brief discussion is finally provided in place of the Principle of Double Effect. According to this principle, an agent is responsible for the intended consequences of action, but not normally for the unintended consequences, even if they were foreseeable and foreseen.
