I212. "If a goal is worthy, then any means taken to attain it is justifiable."
思路：
第一段：题目太绝对了，首先要考虑worthy的定义，是一己私利还是社会利益，even if the goal是reasonable的，也得考虑action的side effect，we should compare the benefits and the cost generally。
第二段：如果purpose是不好的，即仅仅是对一部分人worthy的，it is obviously unjustifiable。例如Qin Shihuang, the first emperor of ancient China, have built numerous imperial palaces。
第三段：即便目的是好的，要也权衡利弊，比如说Manhattan project，atom bomb，explosion of the "fat man" and the "little boy" end the World War Two directly, Albert Einstein felt guilty about it。
第四段：如果目的和结果都已经under consideration了，符合这样的means才可以被称为justifiable。Since neither the goal nor the mean that under discussion can be random one, the topic falls short on its persuasiveness.
I find the speaker's claim is to some extent too extreme, before we draw any judgment about the topic, we should define what kind of goal can be taken as worthy. In my view, a goal which deviates from the social value and human ethics, even it might in accordance to individual development, could never be true worthy. In spite of this, we should also concern our action's side effect and compare the benefits and the cost generally. Consequently, this question is rarely a straightforward issue, and I venture to disagree with the statement that it is justifiable to attain a worthy goal by any means.
In the first palace, we should judge the nature of the goal primarily, because different people have different opinions toward a same goal due to their various positions. Nevertheless, we still have a general rule that a worthy goal should not to be against public interests and deviates from social general ethics. For example, Qin Shihuang, the first emperor of ancient China, have built numerous imperial palaces simply for the desire of himself. Knowing that these palaces cost a large amount of money that was base on the exploitation towards citizens, we consider this goal as a selfish and irrational one and it is obviously unjustifiable to take any means to attain this kind of goal.
Next, even assuming that the goal itself is justifiable and worthy to go after, the ways to attain it also need restrictions. We must see the reverse as well as the obverse side of things, if we take actions to pursue our purposes without being aware of the side effect of these actions will bring, we might suffer terrible aftermath and regret for our impertinence. For instance, by practicing the Manhattan project，the United States of America invented the atom bomb which is one of the most damaging weapon in the world, and for another thing, nuclear weapon itself is a controversial issue around the world because of its astonishing power and the worry about the people who will be killed by using it. Thereby, whether to use atom bombs in the World War Two has become a "to be or not to be" dilemma. Finally, considering the stubborn resistance of Japanese army and the innocent people who were suffering the invasion, US dropped the atom bombs in Japanese mainland. The explosions of the "fat man" and the "little boy" ended the war directly, but nonetheless, the debate will never end. In short, the means will never be justifiable if we fail to compare the benefits and the cost of these means generally.
In conclusion, to measure whether it is justifiable to take some actions for a goal, we should at first think about what kind of goal is worthy for us to court? Is it benefits or impairs the society? Secondly, we should also think about the means we will take as far as the ratio of benefits and cost is concerned. On my observation, it is justifiable to attain the goals that coincide with the social values and ethics by taking the means which were well considered about their side effects. Since neither the goal nor the mean that under discussion can be a random one, the topic is too extreme and falls short on its persuasiveness.作者: shadow1987 时间: 2010-7-29 09:59:18