Ethical or enlightened egoism changes the focus from what some people tend to do (psychological egoism) to what people ought to do. To be clear, ethical egoism recommends that individuals make decisions that benefit them. At first glance, this seems counter to what is general thought of as moral advice. However, if we take a step back and look at the outcome of all individuals making their decisions on this basis, then each person ensures the best outcome for him/herself and with everyone individually bettered, then in aggregate, the group is bettered, as well. In addition, ethical egoism does inherently suggest that one would take into consideration the interests of others, when doing so would lead to more self-benefit, as is often the case. This aspect also makes this ethical perspective a
little more palatable. For example, servers in a restaurant generally want to maximize the cash they take home at the conclusion of their shifts. Ethical egoism says that they should care about this as it increases their consumer purchasing power, ability to meet their financial obligations, etc. The moral system continues by suggesting that their self-interest in money will lead them to look for ways of augmenting their tips. The most obvious way to do so is to better please the customer Thus, although it is a selfish interest that drives the service to improve, both the server and the customer benefit in the end.
Quite opposite to consequentialism is Universalism. Whereas consequentialism dispenses with the means to focus on the end, universalism does not care so much about the ending result because the emphasis is placed on the means. Essentially, universalism
involves upholding certain values regardless of their immediate consequence. To revisit an earlier example, when Steve Jobs decided to lower the prices of the iPhone and refund
money to those who were willing to pay the higher price, it is suspected that his action was propelled by his sense that he was choosing the right course of action. The concern was on the means of returning the money, not the negative effect it might have on the tremendous number of people who purchased their iPhones between their release date and 2 weeks before his announcement. Those affected individuals would be doubtless angry that they spent an additional $200 on a product that others got so much cheaper by waiting a relatively short time.