No, life is a journey, not a destination, and its not if you win or lose, but how you play the game that matters. If you act in opposition to what you know is right, no matter the final goal, you have started on your way down a slippery slope. I am not saying I would never do something I feel is wrong in order to achieve some certain aim that was of great importance to me, but just that I know its not right.
The only thing that can justify a "means" is an "end". Means cannot justify themselves. I get a lot of flack for this opinion, but I've never had it demonstrated untrue. Whenever anyone bitches about a "means", they invariabley point to the "end" in order to show how inhumane the "means" was. In the end, there's really nothing else to point to in order to demonstrate the fitness of a "means" except for the "end".
if i KNEW what was right i wouldn't be asking now would i? you assume you're right... i don't know that you are...
If the death of thousands of innocents brings true democracy to a country (for example Iraq) then no, I don't think it is justified. If the death of one soldier saved the lives of many others, then yes it is justified, but is it fair? It is very much a relative question, and depends on your belief as to what is good and bad.
I don't know that I am either. I am going with what I have to work with. All I've got is my life so far, and what it has shown me. It is very possible that I am wrong, and it is a certainty that I am often wrong about all kinds of things. Still, I have my beliefs, some firmer than others, and one which is of the firmer type is that if I feel in my heart/gut that something is or is not right it is in my best interests to heed that feeling. In fact, when that feeling and my analytical skills are at odds, I go with my gut. That's a new thing, the result of decades of going with my brain in such instances. Also, as I said in my last post, though I feel the ends don't justify the means, that does not mean I would never go against that adage. I am sure that there are situations where I could find myself choosing the opposite.
I don't think it is. Each case is different and has to be dealt with as such. Sometimes the ends justify the means - eg. telling a child off for bad or dangerous behaviour. Sometimes they don't - eg. US action in Vietnam in the 1960's.
