Any moral philosophy holding that actions are right or wrong according to the balance of their good or bad consequences. The right act in any circumstance is the one that produces the best overall result, as determined from an impersonal perspective that gives equal weight to the interests of each affected party. Act consequentialism requires agents to perform the particular action that in a particular situation is most likely to maximize good consequences; rule consequentialism requires agents to follow those moral rules the observance of which will maximize good consequences. Utilitarianism is the most prominent consequence-based ethical theory.