Does The End Justify The Means? by Mortimer J. Adler‚ Ph.D. Does the end justify the means? Can it sometimes be right to use a bad means to achieve a good end? Don’t the conditions of human life require some shadiness and deceit to achieve security and success? First‚ let’s try to understand the sense in which the word "justifies" is used in the familiar statement that "the end justifies the means." After that we can consider the problem you raise about whether it is all right to employ
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The end justifies the means The end justifies the means is an expression that is often used in society to validate or excuse distasteful and objectionable actions undertaken by its people. In effect‚ the phrase is a justification for dispensing with all morality and principle in the passage towards a successful conclusion. The Greek writer Sophocles wrote in Electra 409 BC “the end excuses any evil." This was a thought later considered‚ by the Roman poet Ovid‚ ‘the result justifies the deed’
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Does The End Justify The Means? First‚ let’s try to understand the sense in which the word "justifies" is used in the familiar statement that "the end justifies the means." After that we can consider the problem you raise about whether it is all right to employ any means - good or bad - so long as the end is good. When we say that something is "justified‚" we are simply saying that it is right. Thus‚ for example‚ when we say that a college is justified in expelling a student who falls below
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one of his more controversial essays that ’The End Justifies the Means.’ Through the ages this quotation could be applied‚ especially in today’s society. This statement does have its positives and negatives. However‚ it still has some values. Most people look at this statement and ponder why this individual believes in such a thing. Believe it or not people do live like this and value it’s simplicity. The statement is significant because it can justify many world issues that need to be addressed. However
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The idea that "the ends justify the means" is very dangerous because not only can it hurt others but it can also damage those who believe in that idea and take action to do it. Some people have a tendency to focus only on the outcomes since they seem much more victorious and glorious than the time they have to spend to reach them. This tendency might tempt one to cheat to get to good ends as quickly as possible. The movie‚ Cheaters directed by John Stockwell‚ shows how pursing only a good outcome
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END JUSTIFY MEANS At the beginning of an action we might not know whether the action is morally correct or wrong but when morally right goal is successfully achieved we might say all the steps which lead to reach to this goal was correct and hence the beginning of the journey was appropriate. If the goals are good and noble then steps which are used to achieve them are also noble and good then yes end does justify its means. But desired morally correct goal can also be achieved by taking unethical
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the author concedes that fortune plays an integral role in the life of a prince or aspiring prince by‚ for example‚ providing opportunity (Machiavelli 26)‚ these humanistic tenets drive the essence of Machiavelli’s argument that the ends ultimately justify the means. That Machiavelli’s stated purpose is to “say something that will prove of practical use” (Machiavelli 65) is of particular significance because it both delicately and violently attacks the worth of such philosophical systems as neo-Platonism
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his American dream‚ through illegal means. Through the portrayal of characters such as Jay Gatsby and Myrtle Wilson‚ coupled with their eventual demise of these characters that sought to achieve the American Dream‚ we are able to see the fact that Fitzgerald does not subscribe to the saying that the ends justify the means. Fitzgerald’s opinion on the end not justifying the means is clearly reflected through the main protagonist of the novel Gatsby. Gatsby’s “end”‚ was to achieve his American Dream
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Capital Punishment: Does the End Justify the Means? If... he has committed murder‚ he must die. In this case‚ there is no substitute that will satisfy the legal requirements of legal justice.There is no sameness of kind between death and remaining alive even under the most miserable conditions‚ and consequently there is no equality between crime and the retribution unless the criminal is judicially condemned and put to death." Immanuel Kant. About 2000 men‚ women‚ and teenagers currently wait
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whether the end justifies the means of experiments conducted on animals for the development of drugs for humans. There have been many discoveries developed through this process‚ although there are also many negative outcomes this method has encountered (Cohan & Regan‚ 2001). This essay will discuss the human benefits received and the negative impacts on both humans and animals. By analysing these three aspects‚ the evidence provided will evaluate whether the end does justify the means of this method
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