Agree that there is no clear-cut answer. That’s what makes ethics hard. On the flip side, consequentialism can justify all sorts of actions that are objectiona

Agree that there is no clear-cut answer. That’s what makes ethics hard. On the flip side, consequentialism can justify all sorts of actions that are objectionable in other moral frameworks. Machiavelli isn’t usually thought of as a bastion of morality, and he coined the phrase “the ends justify the means”. The best answer is probably somewhere in between, but I think many people prefer simple to nuanced answers.