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Single Idea 5903

[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 1. Goodness / c. Right and good ]

Full Idea

'Right' does and can mean nothing but 'cause of a good result', and is thus identical with 'useful', whence it follows that the end always will justify the means.

Gist of Idea

'Right' means 'cause of good result' (hence 'useful'), so the end does justify the means

Source

G.E. Moore (Principia Ethica [1903], §089)

Book Ref

Moore,G.E.: 'Principia Ethica' [CUP 1980], p.147

A Reaction

Of course, Moore does not identify utility with pleasure, as his notion of what is good concerns fairly Platonic ideals. Would Stalin's murders have been right if Russia were now the happiest nation on Earth?

The 14 ideas from 'Principia Ethica'

22151 The Open Question argument leads to anti-realism and the fact-value distinction [Boulter on Moore,GE]
8033 Moore cannot show why something being good gives us a reason for action [MacIntyre on Moore,GE]
8032 Can learning to recognise a good friend help us to recognise a good watch? [MacIntyre on Moore,GE]
11050 Moore's combination of antinaturalism with strong supervenience on the natural is incoherent [Hanna on Moore,GE]
23726 Despite Moore's caution, non-naturalists incline towards intuitionism [Moore,GE, by Smith,M]
5925 The three main values are good, right and beauty [Moore,GE, by Ross]
8039 Moore tries to show that 'good' is indefinable, but doesn't understand what a definition is [MacIntyre on Moore,GE]
5902 For Moore, 'right' is what produces good [Moore,GE, by Ross]
5907 Relationships imply duties to people, not merely the obligation to benefit them [Ross on Moore,GE]
11057 It is always an open question whether anything that is natural is good [Moore,GE]
11056 The naturalistic fallacy claims that natural qualties can define 'good' [Moore,GE]
5903 'Right' means 'cause of good result' (hence 'useful'), so the end does justify the means [Moore,GE]
18676 We should ask what we would judge to be good if it existed in absolute isolation [Moore,GE]
21233 The beautiful is whatever it is intrinsically good to admire [Moore,GE]