Do the ends justify the means?
I was recently asked why I have a “Peace” bumper sticker that says “Support our Troops”. I thought the answer was obvious… the best way to support our troops is by not being at war (hence putting them in grave danger). For those who don’t know me, I served honorably in the Rhode Island Army National Guard in the infantry for 6 years and I put that sticker on my car when my old unit got called up to go to Iraq. That question though got me thinking about my political views on the war in Iraq.
I always wonder to myself about the answer many give when asked about their feelings on Iraq: “if the ends justify the means, then it was worth it” and “only time will tell”. I will be the first to admit that I have used these phrase over and over when it comes to this war in particular. But being a bit of a philosopher, I have to question my own beliefs continuously to strengthen them.
So, the question is “do the ends justify the means”. But what does that question really mean? We know what the means are, but what ends are we talking about? I would argue most people would say that the ends implies when this war is over and done with and we have a historical record of the events that aren’t muddied by politics (at least not too much, or at least all sides to the story are represented) what was accomplished/what was the outcome.
If that is the case we still have another question… the timeline. When this war is over and done with only gives the time when this statement becomes valid… but it does not take into effect history afterwards. Take for example the fall of the “evil Roman empire”. Did the ends justify the means? Invading hordes, collapse of society, a long lasting dark age on humanity as western cultures new it were the means in this case. The ends were a largely Christian society split into feuding fiefdoms, intolerance of others, and the loss of scholarly works. However, the ends now are quite different.
Now the ends are a return of sorts of Rome in the USA, albeit we are not evil (as I am sure the Romans were not either – just paganistic and fearful of their imagined gods). We have a great civilization, largely free and protected by some of the best men and women in uniform throughout the world. So I would say that in 500AD the ends did not justify the means, but in 2008AD the ends appear to have justified the means. But who’s to say that will be true in 3000AD?
When we say “the ends justify the means” we expect our context to be fixed, but this is not the case. The means are fixed, but the ends are always changing. Their will always have been loss of innocents in Iraq (on both sides) but the ends will keep changing throughout time.
So the next time you go to use that phrase, think about what you are really saying.
