Objection is often raised to the expression the end justifies the means. However, in my experience the cases that are generally cited of why that doesnt work, why bad means cannot be justified by good ends are generally ones where the _end_ isnt good either. (Setting up a totalitarian dictatorship, which Machiavelli was describing in The Prince when he coined the expression is hardly what I would call a good end) A bad end cannot possibly justify bad means pretty much by definition. Having a planned good end is not a blank check, as it were, for atrocity in pursuing it, but that doesnt mean that _nothing_ is ever justified by the end goal. Cutting someones stomach open is generally considered a bad thing, but if the end goal is to remove an inflamed appendix and save the persons life, then thats a different story. People, including innocent people, get killed in war. Irreplaceable cultural and historical artifacts get destroyed. Those are bad things. But sometimes its necessary to avoid far worse results. The Nazis had to be stopped. That Europe got bombed into rubble in the process was unfortunate (understatement of the decade), but probably unavoidable given capabilities and knowledge at the time. The means justify the ends isnt carte blanch, so stipulated. It isnt automatically right. But it also isnt automatically wrong either. Some ends justify some means. Its a matter of degree--exactly what means to exactly what ends. Case by case.
Posted on: Sun, 19 Jan 2014 03:05:15 +0000
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