2007-01-04 12:56:40 · 11 answers · asked by my deranged mind 3 in Education & Reference ➔ Quotations
Some might say that the end result of their actions is so wonderful and necessary, that it justifies bad things they have done to aquire that goal. Like being prepared for a percentage of casualties in a war because the fight is so important, the end result is so crucial, it justifies a certain amount of lives lost.
Peace!
2007-01-04 12:58:59 · answer #1 · answered by carole 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It is based on the philosophical writings of Immanuel Kant. It means that the result of an action justifies the action itself so that if something has a positive result, it is a justifiable action even if the way you achieved that result was through a bad action. An examples would be stealing bread to feed your family. Stealing is a bad means but it is justified because it fed your hungry family
2007-01-04 21:05:29 · answer #2 · answered by angihorn2006 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
"The, in my opinon good, end result is worth doing anything (bad or good, 'civilised' or barbaric) to achieve!"
It is/was used as an excuse to do bad things, while working towards a 'noble' outcome.
Everybody would now agree an Allied invasion of Japan would have meant horrific casualties, in the millions, and possibly the total destruction of Japanese society by the time they were defeated. The A-bombs prevented millions of casualties - but killed tens of thousands and left horrible after-effects (not known about at the time, of course).
Did, or didn't, "the end justify the means"?
2007-01-04 21:11:21 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It roughly means that the result of your actions outweigh whatever sins you may have committed in order to accomplish your results.
A good example of this is the Nuclear Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombs caused terrible destruction and death, but a ground invasion of japan would have cost more lives on both sides than the two bombs put together. Which is why the US decided to end the war that way.
2007-01-04 21:09:26 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The result is wanted - even if a person had to go through some hard times to get there.
2007-01-04 21:05:21 · answer #5 · answered by Richard H 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
that the conclusion or end result of bad means is good enough to assuage the use of inappropriate or bad means eg., it's ok to torture people because the info gathered saves lives
2007-01-04 21:27:52 · answer #6 · answered by dogpatch USA 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It means that if you have to do some bad stuff to get the good stuff dine then its ok. Kind of like if you catch the bank robber but that caused him to kill 5 people.
2007-01-04 21:00:07 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It basically means that if the outcome of what you do is good, then it doesn't matter what you did to create that outcome.
2007-01-04 22:44:22 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
it means that if you do or say something that is right, moral, etc, then that's what matters, no matter what you had to say or do to do it, even if what you did was wrong. which i, by the way, think that's wrong!
2007-01-04 22:20:21 · answer #9 · answered by dancing_christian_mocha_girl 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Using "evil" means to accomplish a "good" result.
2007-01-04 21:09:12 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋