Asking here because I don’t think this has a concrete answer… (or maybe it does? Please let me know if there is one!)

So a lot of times good people do good things and bad people do bad things… but what if someone with malicious intent unintentially improved the world? Or vice versa, someone with all the right intentions but made things worse for everyone

I guess this can be applied to a lot of politicians, but the question isn’t based on any real-life events

  • TʜᴇʀᴀᴘʏGⒶʀʏ⁽ᵗʰᵉʸ‘ᵗʰᵉᵐ⁾@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    6·
    2 months ago

    If you’re interested in further reading, the terminology for what you’re describing is:

    deontology (based on the action itself)
    virtue ethics (based on the intent)
    consequentialism (based on the outcome)

    I would argue that there’s no such thing as “good” people and “bad” people, nor even actions that are inherently good or bad themselves. Someone is, in my opinion, “good” if I feel more positively than negatively about the culmination of their actions, intents, and results.

    To be clear though, my opinion on this is unpopular lol

    • zlatiah@lemmy.worldOP
      2·
      2 months ago

      Thanks! You put this better than I could. I was thinking that this has to be something philosophers have figured out or at least seriously investigated… I will look into these concepts

      IMO this is the asklemmy community and I came here asking for opinions so… I think your opinion is quite valid

  • JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world
    4·
    2 months ago

    You’re walking down a busy street while texting. Oops! You stepped on a kitten! Is it animal abuse? Intention is (almost) everything because it suggests what you would do if you had the means to do so, or if you felt you could get away with it.

  • spittingimage@lemmy.world
    4·
    2 months ago

    Actions. I know too many people who ‘really meant to’ do that awesome thing but somehow never got around to it.

  • zxqwas@lemmy.world
    2·
    2 months ago

    Results first. Actions second. Intent third.

    You can say your intent is anything and I’ve got no way of verifying this.

    You can take good actions that make the situation worse. If noone warned you about the consequences I guess I can’t blame you.

    If the result is a net positive I won’t complain too much. Even if you said you’d solve global warming by making fun of orphans and somehow made that work I’d quietly grumble about there must have been a better way but be happy that I don’t have to deal with it.