Be sure you can distinguish between your agreement with the claim and your evaluation of the evidence. During your critique of the evidence, try to come up with perspectives that differ from the claim and evidence presented. Consider reading other articles on the same issue that take a different viewpoint or offer competing claims. As we approach ethical arguments, we must also understand that there are several types of ethical theories that can influence the decisions we and others make when evaluating ethical issues. In essence, different ethical theories are the underlying paradigms we use to make ethical decisions.
Deontological theories maintain that moral standards exist independent of the end results.
Utilitarianism is probably the best-known teleologial theory. Utilitarians believe that a given act is moral if it brings more good consequences than bad. Jeremy Bentham, the person responsible for originally developing the utilitarian theory suggested that utility should guide our actions. Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to promote the reverse of happiness. Essentially, Mills suggested that pleasure and freedom from pain are alone desirable as ends.