Vishakha YadavAIR 6 · CSE 2019 · 209 wordsTheir whole copy
Opening · a restatement
This statement highlights the dichotomy between the means vs ends.
Body · continuous prose
While the deontologists such as Kant, Gandhi say that the moral worth of an action depends on the motivation and means to reach the end, The teleologists such as Bentham, Mill held that the ends justify the means taken.
An act of killing a thief to prevent house robbery may have saved lives but the action inherently is an immoral action.
Similarly, taking Bribe from a big businessman to help the poor rehabilitated people in slums, might have logical outcome but the act is wrong.
Close · a summary
An action guided by wrong motives will always be negative even if its results into a positive spill over effect. Example : Deliberately killing a terrorist in custody is wrongly motivated although its good for the country and national interest. Moral worth of such an action cant be justified. Alternately, a positively motivated action can bring about a negative effect and still be called moral. Example : A lawyer's profession to defend a murderer is the commitment to the rule of law and his duty. If held free, Lawyer would not be morally corrupt unless he had an unfair, biased means. Thus, our thoughts, purpose and action should be in harmony to act morally.