Explain briefly "the ends just not justify the means".?

Answer 1

It means that how you achieve something is as important as what you achieve.

For instance, giving an orphanage a million dollars to survive would not justification for robbing a bank to get that million dollars.

A positive outcome is not enough to outweigh a negative method of obtaining that outcome.

Answer 2

Said briefly this means that when we are working on achieving a certain goal ( called the end) , the method ( or means) of reaching the goal is also equally important..It might just happen that after reaching the goal we might simply ask the question " was that worth it at all , taking this route to achieve it?"

A typical example that comes to mind , now rocking the world is Iraq. The UK and the USA are trying to achieve a certain goal ( end) in Iraq for what they call , the world peace. Many feel that this is being attempted ( means to do it) at an emormous cost and thus , is not justified. Others say that this is the ONLY means to reach the end. Only time will tell.

Answer 3

Doing your homework and using Yahoo Answers to do the thinking for you instead of using your brain just a tiny bit on your own just so you can get the work done with out any effort on your part...

That is an example of something where the ends do not justify the means.

In five years when you have a crummy job that pays minimum wage remember back on this moment because this will be why your life won't amount to anything.

Answer 4

Think of it like this. If you could go back in time, people would say it would be wrong to kill Adolf Hitler as a child. Some people would say it would be wrong to kill an innocent kid, who would spread evil later in life, but a time traveler would kill this innocent, so that he would not be able to kill and torture the millions of innocent people that he murdered later in life. If this was possible, a time traveler would take one life, in order to save millions of others. That would be an example of "The end Justifying The Means", just like in Star Wars: Episode Three: Revenge of The Sith, as The Jedis wanted Anakin to kill the Senator without a trial, because he was to dangerous to keep alive. I hope this makes sense.

Answer 5

It means that not because what you have in mind is something good, you are free to do bad things just to make it come true. In the story "The World is an Apple", the father stole an apple from the company he's working on to give it to his sick child. Though his intention was nice (to brighten up his child) he did a wrong thing (by stealing the apple). As a result, he lost his job.

Answer 6

this means that the result of an action does not justify (or make right) the way about which that action was completed.

Basically means: it's not worth it

Answer 7

The "ends" is your goal, the "means" references what you do to get there. This phrase says that the result (or goal) was not good enough to justify or warrant what you did to attain it.

There are various examples. One could argue Bush lied to get us into a war in Iraq. One may say he did this because he considered Saddam Hussein evil and dangerous and wanted to rid the world of such danger, or that he wanted to spread freedom, or to free the people of Iraq. All of these are good goals (good ends). Bush has lied, sent thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis to their death, and destroyed America's reputation in the world. All of these are bad choices he made to get us into the war. Therefore, many would argue his end goal didn't warrant his evil choices.

In the Bible, many have heard the story of King David taking Bathsheba from her husband Uriah. He had an affair with her and then had her husband killed by placing him in the frontlines of a huge battle Israel was in. He may have done it for love (a good end), but did it with murder and adultery (bad means).

Often one finds that when you have a good intention but are willing to use evil to attain it, the end will not justify your actions. And you will suffer for it. Bush is stuck in a war with hundreds dying daily. King David lost his baby son in death for his evil. We must remember that to attain a good goal, we must stick only with good means. We cannot attain good without God, so we must stick with him in the means side of things so He will stick with us on the ends side of things.

Answer 8

"The ends don't justify the means" means that just because there was a good outcome, doesn't mean what was done to achieve it is acceptable.

Answer 9

the correct expression is "the ends justify the means"..meaning that whatever it took to accomplish what you were aiming for is okay.
not sure i agree with that though. :)

Answer 10

It means that eventhough you got what you wanted, you shouldn't have done it the way you did it. YOU might have gotten the iPod you wanted, but you had to hurt someone inorder to get it. (I don't have an iPod, just an example)