Single Idea 4426

[catalogued under 22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 1. Goodness / i. Moral luck]

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 Reference

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.