Abstract
Consequentialism is often criticized on the grounds that it justifies the gross violation of individual rights in order to bring about the best overall consequences. In this paper I argue that such criticism is mistaken and that consequentialism is able to accommodate respect for rights. Consequentialism does not necessarily demand the violation of rights, if rights are understood in a positive sense as capabilities and the ability to realize important goals, instead of merely the negative demand for noninterference from other moral agents. Moreover, consequentialists do not have to view rights as mere conduits to social utility; they can acknowledge the importance of preserving individual rights while taking into account thesocial context in which rights are to be protected.
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