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Full Idea
I should prefer to exclude the bad result, the consequences, from the question of value as a matter of principle. Faced with a bad result, one loses all too easily the right perspective for what one has done.
Gist of Idea
A bad result distorts one's judgement about the virtue of what one has done
Source
Friedrich Nietzsche (Ecce Homo [1889], Clever §1)
Book Ref
Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'On the Genealogy of Morals/ Ecce Homo', ed/tr. Kaufmann,Walter [Vintage 1969], p.236
A Reaction
If the perspective is easily lost, we should make more effort, not ignore consequences. The question is whether you could have foreseen or controlled the consequences.
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| 14063 | Sooner a good decision going wrong, than a bad one turning out for the good [Epicurus] |
| 5126 | A carelessly thrown brick is condemned much more if it hits someone [Smith,A, by Harman] |
| 20233 | Punishment has distorted the pure innocence of the contingency of outcomes [Nietzsche] |
| 4426 | A bad result distorts one's judgement about the virtue of what one has done [Nietzsche] |
| 23282 | If all that matters in morality is motive and intention, that makes moral luck irrelevant [Williams,B] |
| 3272 | Moral luck can arise in character, preconditions, actual circumstances, and outcome [Nagel] |
| 6700 | We can't criticise people because of unforeseeable consequences [Graham] |
| 20193 | Moral luck means our praise and blame may exceed our control or awareness [Zagzebski] |