Converting Theory Into Philosophy

One of the features that determine our humanity is the ability to determine what is right versus what is wrong. The views we as people have on what is right and wrong make up our morality and ethics. In many instances the society and culture in which we live attempt to simplify our decision making by making laws that determine what is right and wrong with regards to that particular culture. Our patterns of behaviors with regard to existing laws as well as circumstances not particularly covered by the laws determine our morality. For many people, the manner of their upbringing shapes their morality. For others it is their religious beliefs. While for many more, significant life events determine their morality. My moral philosophy is based on two separate principles. The first of which is how we should behave, meaning what acts are acceptable and unacceptable. The second is how we should be, meaning the character traits or virtues that make up good or bad people. Ultimately my moral philosophy is a combination of doing good things as individuals and espousing values that benefit society as a whole.
The first tenet of my moral philosophy is doing good things. My philosophy in this arena mostly follows the moral theory of consequentialism more specifically utilitarianism. This means that the goodness of our actions depend largely on the consequences or results of the action. Put more simply, we should chose to do the action that does the most good for the most people. This concept is not always easy to accept, not is it always in conformance with our laws. The practice of enhanced interrogation or torture provides an excellent example to illustrate this point. Many have attempted to justify torture by saying it is inflicted on one or a few people to save a greater number of lives. However, I feel that torture does not meet the tenets of consequentialism as it is in most cases applied as a punishment for an act that has already occurred or in retaliation for not...