If I am trying to poison my friend, but by some miracle the poison doesn’t kill him and instead manages to cure his arthritis, then I am still a bad person.
I don’t think that is quite what consequentialism means, except in the ideal case of unlimited computing power and perfect prediction capabilities. What matters in bounded consequentialism is expected consequences of someone’s actions, calculated to the best of one’s abilities, which may differ from the actual consequences. Of course, in the real world people usually get judged on the mix of intended and actual consequences.
I don’t think that is quite what consequentialism means, except in the ideal case of unlimited computing power and perfect prediction capabilities. What matters in bounded consequentialism is expected consequences of someone’s actions, calculated to the best of one’s abilities, which may differ from the actual consequences. Of course, in the real world people usually get judged on the mix of intended and actual consequences.