I think, in some cases, the ends clearly do justify the means. For example, killing someone is generally considered wrong, but it’s generally considered to me morally permissible to kill someone in self-defense or in defense of others. If you use some “evil” means to achieve a “good” end—and you do achieve that end—then, if the magnitude of the good achieved is greater than the magnitude of the evil, the use of the evil means can often be justified. (Of course, there is always the obligation to try to find a third alternative, but that’s a complication beyond the scope of my argument.)
There is a catch, though. Justifying bad means through good ends is dangerous, because people often fail to achieve the ends they were hoping for. In the infamous trolley problem, if you push the fat man onto the tracks hoping to stop the runaway trolley, but the trolley still doesn’t stop, you just killed the fat man for nothing. History is filled with examples of people who resorted to evil means to achieve good ends, and failed. When you resort to evil means, you have a greater obligation to verify that you really are going to achieve a net good, because if you screw up, the consequences are much, much worse than if you refused to employ evil means in the first place. As a practical matter, “the ends don’t justify the means,” although not strictly true, is still a very useful heuristic for making moral decisions, because it puts a floor on the amount of damage you end up doing when you make mistakes.
I think the statement “the end doesn’t justify the means” is somewhat silly in it’s own right. While it would typically be argued in the sense that killing someone to improve someone else’s life is not OK, for example, would the person dying not be equally a part of the end as the other’s life improving? It seems more likely to result in double counting or a similar fallacy to try to separate an action into end and means in the first place, when everything already has an impact on the end in some way.
That said, the understood meaning is not the same as its literal value, and the meaning closer to how it is understood of “consider all the consequences of your actions” does have value.
Hey, we stole this land fair and square! ;)
Anyway, on “The ends don’t justify the means”...
I think, in some cases, the ends clearly do justify the means. For example, killing someone is generally considered wrong, but it’s generally considered to me morally permissible to kill someone in self-defense or in defense of others. If you use some “evil” means to achieve a “good” end—and you do achieve that end—then, if the magnitude of the good achieved is greater than the magnitude of the evil, the use of the evil means can often be justified. (Of course, there is always the obligation to try to find a third alternative, but that’s a complication beyond the scope of my argument.)
There is a catch, though. Justifying bad means through good ends is dangerous, because people often fail to achieve the ends they were hoping for. In the infamous trolley problem, if you push the fat man onto the tracks hoping to stop the runaway trolley, but the trolley still doesn’t stop, you just killed the fat man for nothing. History is filled with examples of people who resorted to evil means to achieve good ends, and failed. When you resort to evil means, you have a greater obligation to verify that you really are going to achieve a net good, because if you screw up, the consequences are much, much worse than if you refused to employ evil means in the first place. As a practical matter, “the ends don’t justify the means,” although not strictly true, is still a very useful heuristic for making moral decisions, because it puts a floor on the amount of damage you end up doing when you make mistakes.
Does this make any sense?
I think the statement “the end doesn’t justify the means” is somewhat silly in it’s own right. While it would typically be argued in the sense that killing someone to improve someone else’s life is not OK, for example, would the person dying not be equally a part of the end as the other’s life improving? It seems more likely to result in double counting or a similar fallacy to try to separate an action into end and means in the first place, when everything already has an impact on the end in some way.
That said, the understood meaning is not the same as its literal value, and the meaning closer to how it is understood of “consider all the consequences of your actions” does have value.