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lovinamy
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发表于 2009-7-9 17:53:37 |只看该作者 |倒序浏览

本帖最后由 lovinamy 于 2009-7-9 18:32 编辑

The speakerconcludes that if a goal is worthy then any means to attain it is justifiable.In my prospective, such arbitrary position ignores the basic sensationentirely. The judgment of the means attaining the goal is certain to go througha case-by-case consideration, rather than given in extreme position initially.Only after weighing the benefits of achieving the goal against the costs, orharm, dare we assert whether the goal is worth attaining or not. This appliesequally to individual goals and to societal goals.

Consider the goalof completing long way cycling journey for instance. If I need to purchase manyprofessional equipments and reduce my working hours to practice for thejourney, thereby jeopardize the job, or if I have to risk the danger cycling onthe road which is more distinctive to rookies; or if I have to displacecompletely two months of time being together with my family for the journey,then, more or less the goal is not worth attaining. Yet if I am a cycling loveras well as a physically challenged person with abundant time and resources toprepare for the journey, such goals might be worthwhile, not only for my ownsatisfaction but also for the inspiration that attaining the goal would providefor many others.
Thus, when weregard a goal and means attaining it, different prospective and differentcircumstances result in varied judgments.

Absolute certainty never exists. Take the movie Saving Private Ryan foranother instance, six soldiers died to save one. In quantity it takes too muchto attain the goal, which seems too unworthy to most rational people. Yet,under the circumstances told in the story, to save the only-left son of alonely mother meant more than what it might pay. In a value system which puts hopesahead of any potential risks, such action is more than worthy but a definitedecision. Hence, determining the worthiness of such goals requires that weconfront moral dilemmas, which we each solve individually-based on ourconscience, value system, and notion of fairness and equity.

On a societallevel we determine the worthiness of our goals in a similar manner. For instance,any thoughtful person would agree that reducing the air and water pollution isa worthy societal goal. Clean air and water makes great contribution inimproving life quality as well as in decreasing harm to environment. However,when we trace the source of the pollution, it's easy to discover that most of whichis conducted through industries business which concerns the whole society.Attaining the goal abovementioned would risk economic paralysis, widespreadunemployment as well as many other side effects. Take nuclear weapon foranother consideration, it is designed to attain the goal of protecting nationsecurity and putting an end to WWII. We all agree that a US without nuclearweapon would be vulnerable, yet as the inventor of such devastating weapon, UShas brought as well the seeds of deracination to all creature. In sum, bothissues underscore the fact that the worthiness of a societal goal cannot beconsidered apart from the means and adverse consequences of attaining the goal.

To sum up, thespeaker neglects the basic evaluation of the question. The worthiness of anygoal, whether personal or societal, should be determined by the benefits ofachieving the goal against its costs. The truth suits us all as well as others.