LET US, just for argument’s sake, play around with the idea, roll it around our tongue without really making coming to a definite conclusion and just see what we spit out.
Nowadays, we may have seen it streaming into our LED screens, “Does the end really justify the means?”
If one person short-cuts his way through any lengthy process and then says it’ll be for the greater good in the end, does that make it alright? How long can anyone chew on that? We know some students like to take short cuts (my favorite pastime once), some even cheat during exams, treating these as prerequisites to greater goals. The intended end result could either be getting a job in the future or being successful and even acquiring lots of money. Yet, while these may all be self-serving goals, is there one out there that qualifies as a justified misdeed because it leads to a noble end?
Fast forward to adult life and work, we still cling to the same old aphorism: just as long as our actions (wrong or unfair they may be) lead to something beneficial, they therefore become necessarily good. Nowhere is this truer than in the realm of politics and government. Hidden or cleverly-disguised under maxims like “serving the people” or “for the good of all”, we have seen public servants jig their way into position. Hence, all political moves seem to point north like a compass and appear to be guided by the principle, for the benefit of all but there’s not much truth in there. Still, cheating in exams. This sense of self-righteousness seems so common among many persons of authority, that anywhere in the world, it has become the long-standing template, much older than Plato.
Meanwhile, there is another template that relates only to us mortals, as we all have to bear with our one-two-three of anything. You cannot just simply jump to three. Go through the process of anything. Stick to your bike lane.
As it is, we hear about politicians who seem to reside up in the realm and context of teleological ethics, where it says that, “if a goal is morally important enough, any method at achieving it is therefore acceptable.”
These are those who accept it as fact that it really does not matter how one may have obtained a required piece of paper such as a diploma, as long as in the future, it might open up opportunities for better things, then all is good.
