--- title: Three ways of thinking: rules, consequences, character — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Three ways of thinking: rules, consequences, character», a lesson of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Thinkers have found three big ways to ask what is right: rules thinking asks "what is my duty?", consequenc --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/37-rules-consequences-character/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Religion ethics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/) / Three ways of thinking: rules, consequ… # Three ways of thinking: rules, consequences, character Lesson 37 of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school: 16 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/religion-ethics/37-rules-consequences-character/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/37-rules-consequences-character/0/) — Thinkers have found three big ways to ask what is right: rules thinking asks "what is my duty?", consequences thinking asks "what will happen to everyone?", and character thinking asks "what would a good person do?" - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/37-rules-consequences-character/1/) — Rules thinking (deontology) says some things, like keeping promises and not lying, are right or wrong in themselves, even when nobody finds out. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/37-rules-consequences-character/2/) — Consequences thinking (consequentialism) looks for the choice with the best results for everyone affected, but it can forget the few if it only counts the many. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/37-rules-consequences-character/3/) — Character thinking (virtue ethics) says we become what we repeatedly do: practise honesty and courage and you grow honest and brave; practise greed and cruelty and you grow greedy and cruel. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/37-rules-consequences-character/4/) — Often all three agree, as when you help a hurt child; when they clash, as with lying to protect someone, a strong olympiad answer looks at all three, and Christians also bring the commandments, Jesus' love and the hope of growing more like him. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/37-rules-consequences-character/5/) — Rules thinking says some actions are right or wrong in themselves, whatever happens; philosophers call it deontology. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/37-rules-consequences-character/7/) — Character thinking asks what a good, kind, brave and honest person would do; philosophers call it virtue ethics. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/37-rules-consequences-character/8/) — A duty is something we ought to do because it is right, like keeping a promise, even when we do not feel like it. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/37-rules-consequences-character/9/) — "The greatest good for the greatest number" is a consequences idea; it can help, but it can forget the few. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/37-rules-consequences-character/10/) — Virtues are good habits such as honesty and courage; vices are bad habits such as greed and cruelty. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/37-rules-consequences-character/11/) — Character thinking says we become what we repeatedly do. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/37-rules-consequences-character/12/) — Often all three ways point the same way, for example helping a hurt child. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/37-rules-consequences-character/13/) — Sometimes rules and consequences clash, for example lying to protect someone. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/37-rules-consequences-character/14/) — When the three disagree, a thinker has to weigh the reasons on each side; there is no simple formula. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/37-rules-consequences-character/15/) — A strong olympiad answer often looks at rules, results and character together. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/37-rules-consequences-character/16/) — Christian ethics uses all three: commandments (rules), love for neighbour's good (consequences) and growing like Christ (character). - ← previous: [What is an ethics olympiad?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/36-what-is-an-ethics-olympiad/) - next →: [The Golden Rule in many traditions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/38-the-golden-rule-in-many-traditions/) - ↑ back to [Religion ethics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/)