2007-08-13 08:40:48 · 19 answers · asked by grey_worms 7 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Looking for examples of when it would be ok to hurt someone for their greater good.
And times when it is not ok to hurt someone for their greater good.
We are trying to draw lines, make up or modify, our principals as it were.
2007-08-13 08:58:22 · update #1
That is just to wide of a question. It would totally always depend on the circumstances.
2007-08-13 08:43:01 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
One common example when someone hurting someone else for that person's greater good comes to mind. You have a brain tumor that will kill you, and you give the surgeon permission to cut it out so you can live even if it leaves you w/o certain abilities. Another example, you are a woman with 3 children and your doctor knows that you are likely to give birth to a child that is so badly deformed or metabolically deficient that the doctor recommends a medical abortion to spare both the child, the suffering of living a painful and short life following delivery, and the family, the suffering of the situation. Sometimes, the greater good of the final result outweighs the harms that are done to achieve the greater good. The weighing of the harms and the good is certainly not an easy ethics task; especially when the "double effect" (do internet search) issue is part of the moral problem one faces.
2007-08-13 10:13:43 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would say yes, but it may depend on who you ask or the circumstances involved. The hardest part of this question is what is the greater good and how much pain is involved in hurting the person you are trying to help.
One example of when it would be ok to hurt someone for their own good would be getting a heroin junkie clean. If you've seen the move Trainspotting you know that it is rather difficult and painful for a user to go through withdrawal. However it is better for that person to clean and have to go through that pain then to continue using.
2007-08-13 09:08:37 · answer #3 · answered by Ertai_2002 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. It is not O.K. to hurt anyone. That is a typical example of "moral relativity". But it is done still the same.
Some feel that morality is absolute. That no killing is justified; no abortion is justified; no divorce is justified; no theft is justified; and so on right down the line.
While it is totally correct that no killing is justified, it is 'accepted' on certain legal grounds such as self-defense or the execution of a severe criminal. But just because it is done, doesn't mean it is right.
So while hurting someone for the greater good is done all the time, it doesn't mean it is O.K.
Taking a human life cannot ever be O.K., but I would have no qualms in shooting someone trying to murder me or my family. But I do not trust the legal system to make that determination for me or society - wrongful executions and wrongful incarcertions.
2007-08-13 09:02:13 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't believe the greater good can ever be based on causing someone pain. Ultimately, someone may appreciate the benefit of it for a while, but that doesn't make it right. I think the greater good is always based on truth and honesty, never on deception or causing pain. Sometimes the greater good is to go without.
2007-08-13 09:17:28 · answer #5 · answered by saracatheryn 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, if you are doing it truly for their well-being or benefit and you have nothing to gain. If you set someone free because you holding back their growth and development and you know it (or they are holding you back), if someone has an addiction problem, maybe someone just wants or needs to hear the truth after a breakup for their own healing and resolution (you had an affair, you really don't love them, you truly love someone else). Sometimes the truth hurts but honesty is the best policy. It takes a strong person to step up for the right reasons and a weak one to use them as ammunition.
2007-08-13 13:47:48 · answer #6 · answered by Shug 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i guess for me that question is very wide and could have many answers. so i will give my best guess to what you are asking. I would hurt some one or even kill someone if it meant the getting the cure to aids or cancer. I know that is very far fetched by maybe there's the real answer. hurting someone for the greater good is far fetched. so no it is not OK to hurt some one for their greater good.
2007-08-13 08:49:04 · answer #7 · answered by invadedminds 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends, the greater good is something not really tangible. But hurting someone is pretty tangible to the person you are hurting. Are you thinking about the war?
2007-08-13 08:43:39 · answer #8 · answered by georgehimself 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Perhaps. But who the heck are you to determine what is the greater good?
This is the reason I generally despise liberal politicians. They always seem to honestly believe that they have a higher moral authority that justifies them setting up a web of cradle to grave laws designed to "protect" the rest of us from ourselves.
2007-08-13 08:45:46 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Surely, but only in some very specific cases, very rare cases...! However, who would be in a position to decide? And above all, can someone decide for someone else at all? Can you judge what the value of pain and suffering is for someone else? Usually, it is a mistake when one assumes so!!!
2007-08-13 09:33:06 · answer #10 · answered by ikiraf 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no because it robs them of the power to make their own decisions, even it they are wrong.
Unfortunately, in the case of children, decisions are made all the time (especially medical ones) in which they have no control.
It is, however, ok to prevent someone from hurting someone else.
2007-08-13 08:44:28 · answer #11 · answered by martinmagini 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋