The Ends Justify the Means?

Originally posted by mechmoggy
What if you had to kill one person to save the lives of millions?

IMO, thats a small sacrifice..........as long as its not me. 😱

I agree, like killing Hitler instead of allowing him to kill thousands of Jews and Catholics.

Originally posted by alcoholicpoet
I agree, like killing Hitler instead of allowing him to kill thousands of Jews and Catholics.

We all think we can do things under pressure...even imagine it....but when it comes down to the line....can you really.....

Originally posted by debbiejo
We all think we can do things under pressure...even imagine it....but when it comes down to the line....can you really.....

Yes, I find nothing hard about blowing off the head of off a mid 20th century tyrant.

What I mean is...if you had to chose between someone you knew to kill and many people to save.

Ouch that's tough, depends on how many ppl and how certain my info is.

the real question is, do your means need to be justified. remember, morals are for the WEAK.

justice is an ideal that was invented. if justice was a real physical force, everyone would have to live by it. but they dont. nothing you do has to be justified, since justice is a question of what is morally right or wrong. morals are nothing and hold no power, they were invented so that people could be controlled and forced to live the way other people wanted them to live. do not live under moral or principle or justice. live the way you want to live first, then worry about how you should treat other people if its really an issue with you.

it is not because we invent justice that it is a bad idea.

And every society creates rules to keep that society from destroying itself. If you want to be a member of a society you should learn to accept those rules.

i definitely dont want to be a member of society. society is stupid. society believes in superiority, that people are in a chain of command. i cant accept this since i know no one is better than me

I think it should be "The Means determinate the end", that why it come before the end. If you use a mean you reach an end, if you use another mean you reach another end. If you want a good end, you must use a good mean. But killing Hitler to prevent a bad ending, is a good thing for me, its not always a bad thing to kill people.

Killing is always wrong, even if prevents a greater evil. So it can be necessary, and it can be the correct course of action, but it is still wrong.

I don´t think something can correct and wrong at the same time. Its not so bad to die, death is part of life. There are worst things than death.

Could any of you honestly say that you could, if you had to, line ten innocent people up against a wall and shoot them, in order to save the innocent 1000?

Originally posted by Syren
Could any of you honestly say that you could, if you had to, line ten innocent people up against a wall and shoot them, in order to save the innocent 1000?

Good question!!

I couldn't do it, but I wouldn't stop it (that is the killing of the ten).

That's a good answer... not quite a cop out 😉

I don't know if I could do it, unless it actually happens to me I guess I'll never know. But I don't envy the poor bastard who finds himself in such an unenviable position 😂

I could do it. To know something objectively is to know it as the Force knows it. The sacrifice of ten to save a thousand is a net gain of 990.
But killing the ten is still wrong, though it is correct.

Originally posted by JediMusician
I could do it. To know something objectively is to know it as the Force knows it. The sacrifice of ten to save a thousand is a net gain of 990.
But killing the ten is still wrong, though it is correct.

I agree....though I'd have to close my eyes when I do it...and it would be really hard.....But it would depend on the situation....cause I had a really hard time killing a mean rooster 2 years ago....City girls aren't used to killing roosters....

Originally posted by Syren
Could any of you honestly say that you could, if you had to, line ten innocent people up against a wall and shoot them, in order to save the innocent 1000?

^ This presumes that the value of human life is quantifiable; this begs the question, "what if the the value of the ten is greater than the value of the 1,000," and so forth.