issue 53-model essay
If a goal is worthy, then any means taken to attain it are justifiable.Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.
提纲
When we pursue worthy goals, we have to consider whether the means conforms the relevant rules, costs less than the value of the goal and any unintended long-term consequences of using the means.
If we do not follow certain rules when trying to achieve a goal, we may defeat the purposes of the activities. e.g. cheating and plagiarism in education
If we devote too many resources to achieve a goal with limited value, the decisions would make little economic sense.
Save Private Ryan
At societal level, we need to consider the possible long-term consequences of using certain means to achieve short-term goals.
economic development and environmental protection
有同学说这道题很难写 于是我写了一篇示范 思路和上面的提纲不太一样
I do not agree to the statement that a worthy goal can justify any means that is necessary to achieve it. If the means used is too costly, unjust in procedures or ethically problematic, the worthiness of the goal cannot be the ground for justifying the means. I’ll explain my position with some examples including the movie Save the Private Ryan, the latest Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage and the (in)famous Milgram experiment.
As a start, the means cannot be justified if it involves too great a cost. Consider the story in the movie Saving Private Ryan. After the death of three brothers of Private Ryan, the US military decided that Private Ryan had to be rescued at all cost. It is understandable that such decision was made at both emotional and political levels. Emotionally, it is extremely difficult for Ryan’s families to deal with losing one more son, which would be devastating to the family. Politically, having a family losing four sons in the war, the government and the military would be challenged in terms of their leadership. Yet, the cost of saving one soldier turned out to be the lives of seven soldiers. If each and every life should be equally valued, saving one Private Ryan at the expense of 7 can hardly be justified. As this example clearly illustrates, the means can only be justified if the cost is not too high.
In addition, the means used to attain a worthy goal has to be just in terms of its procedures. Consider the latest landmark ruling of the US Supreme Court on same-sex marriage. There is no doubt that pursuing the marriage rights for homosexual couples is a worthy goal in itself. Yet, allowing 4 mortal individuals (the Supreme Court justices) to redefine marriage, one of the oldest institutions in human history, cannot be justified simply because of the worthy goal. Such decision has been criticized by many as judicial activism. Some people also question the legitimacy of the justices given the fact that they are not elected officials. Indeed, it would be more desirable if the decisions are made by a democratically elected state or federal legislature. As shown in this example, the procedures taken to achieve the goal have to be just in order to justify the means.
Finally, any worthy goals should be achieved in an ethical manner. Consider the (in)famous Milgram experiment. The goal of the experiment, like that of most scientific research projects, is to advance human knowledge. This is certainly a worthy goal. But the experiments involve some procedures that are clearly unethical. The subjects were asked to perform certain actions that caused a great amount of emotional and moral distress. Therefore, even the goal was worthy and the experiments were successful in achieving the goal, i.e. advance human knowledge in psychology, the means used to achieve the goals cannot be justified. In fact, such projects would not pass the ethical review had they been proposed nowadays. In other words, any means used to achieve a goal has to be ethically acceptable.
In conclusion, I believe that this statement is wrong because a means cannot be justified if the means is too costly, procedurally unjust or ethically controversial.
issue范文与提纲目录(tesolchina)
https://bbs.gter.net/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1900270&fromuid=3675555
页:
[1]