What does it mean when people say the ends justify the means?

justifies the
Definition of the end justifies the means —used to say that a desired result is so good or important that any method, even a morally bad one, may be used to achieve it They believe that the end justifies the means and will do anything to get their candidate elected.

How would you describe individual who believes the ends?

Someone who so believes can be described as sensible. For a different context: Someone who believes that the ends of ill-defined notions of “national security” justify ineffective and morally unacceptable means, such as torture, to obtain unreliable information, can be described as an idiot.

What is the meaning of the end doesn’t justify the means?

But as young kids, we learned that the “end doesn’t justify the means.” In other words, a positive outcome isn’t, well, a good thing if the methods used were dishonest or harmful to others. On the contrary, cheating or avoiding hard classes might keep your GPA high, but using these means never justifies the end result.

Do the ends justify the means utilitarianism?

Utilitarianism states that “good” or “moral” acts are those that yield the greatest amount of happiness and least amount of suffering for the greatest amount of people. So, in short, yes, the ends do justify the means if the moral gains of the ends are greater than the moral losses by the means.

What is Bentham’s utilitarianism?

utilitarianism, in normative ethics, a tradition stemming from the late 18th- and 19th-century English philosophers and economists Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill according to which an action (or type of action) is right if it tends to promote happiness or pleasure and wrong if it tends to produce unhappiness or …

Who said if the end doesn’t justify the means what does?

Robert Moses quote: If the end doesn’t justify the means, what does? Quotes of famous people.

Who said the ends don’t justify the means?

The end justifies the means is a phrase of Sergey Nechayev, the 19th century Russian revolutionary.

What does the ends justify the means mean?

When a person says “the ends justify the means” they are saying that if the end result is noble enough, it will justify whatever measures are taken to achieve that goal. For example, if your goal is to save lives, it’s okay to cheat, steal, and lie to accomplish your goal.

Why are the ends justify the means ethical dilemmas?

The reason that “the ends justify the means” is such an ethical dilemma is that it allows small immoralities to take place in order to achieve larger moralities. Who cares whether you exaggerate some data, if it means your family will have food to eat? Who cares about stealing from the rich if you can give to the poor?

What is the ultimate reason for justifying sin?

The ultimate reason for justifying sin is fear. We are afraid that we will not survive. We are afraid that God will send us to hell, so we delude ourselves that He doesn’t exist. We are afraid of physical pain, emotional torment, hunger and poverty and illness, so we steal, cheat, and lie.