1. Term
The expression “ethics of motive,” which came to be used as a philosophical term during the 20th century, refers to a basic ethical disposition that looks for the ethical qualification of actions in a reference to their underlying intention, while remaining indifferent toward any actual consequences such actions may have. One can show that E. Troeltsch (1865–1923) also used the term in this sense in his characterization of Kantian ethics as ethics not oriented—as was objective-theological ethics—toward the result of actions (p. 626).