Consequentialism versus Teleology

            When making decisions it’s only natural to think of the outcome of an action, prediction after all is one of the big things that make us superior to lesser creatures. If someone was to justify their actions by claiming the ends justify the means we would associate them with others who have used this argument to justify terrible acts against humanity. The question is however do the ends justify the means? Abraham heard God tell him to kill his son and since killing is by most accounts wrong Abraham had to justify his actions somehow, for Abraham the end result did more than justify the means it suspended ethics entirely. If God was the ultimate good then as far as Abraham was concerned anything God asked for was good regardless of how Abraham felt about it.      Let’s explore the difference between Consequentialism and teleology. Consequentialism is the thought that even immoral acts can be justified by desirable outcomes, Teleology however differs in that the nature of something will intrinsically move towards a definite end rather than having the end characteristics of an act forced upon it by human will. A consequentialist would say killing this man to serve the greater good is justified because someone (them) find the end result to be good but a teleologist would say that killing is wrong because committing an immoral act will lead to an immoral end. Teleology is all about making actions with the end result in mind the difference however is that the actions leading to the end are just as important.       Abraham is a bit of a paradox, since killing is wrong and he was about to kill his son he was about to commit something immoral because of something God told him, Here he is very close to the consequientialist however Abraham believes following God is good and that in following God he can commit no wrong, for Abraham killing his son must be good because God commanded it so when he was about to sacrifice his son he was at heart doing what he saw as right. The only thing that can tip the scales in either direction is God or the existence of him, Had Abraham come this close to killing his son because of some delusional voice he would be a consequientialist but if God does exist and is the ultimate good than his rationale is correct and he falls under Teleology.  

(This is kind of an unfinished post because I really didn't feel like finishing it with mid terms but also kind of felt like it should be posted for some reason.)