Consequences

The word “consequences” is associated with the practical world of behaviour, actions, choices and decisions. We know that our actions have consequences, we experience that expected consequences may motivate us, and we feel somehow that we can always learn from consequences. The way we behave and act has consequences, large and small. Expected consequences drive and motivate us. We learn from consequences, and neuroscientists tell us that learning from consequences expands and rewires our brain. Consequences are everywhere in the practical world of actions and interactions. Appropriate communication brings many rewards, we follow rules (or break them) because of consequences.
In philosophy, consequences are associated with moral theory, especially with consequentialist and utilitarian arguments that concentrate on beneficial effects when determining what morality is allabout.
The perspective that guided the following essay,however, is not exclusively a practical or moralone. My interest is also an ontological interest.Consequently, I conceive of consequences as a fundamental part of what there is, of what is real. Inthe world, there are things and qualities, eventsand structures, powers and regularities. And thereare consequences intrinsically and essentially connected to what there is.