Claim: An action is morally correct if the amount of good that results from the action is greater than the amount of bad that results from the action.
Reason: When assessing the morality of an action, the results of the action are more important than the intent of the person or people performing the action.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim AND the reason on which that claim is based.
A society is built on moral values and disciplines and it is morality that helps the society burgeon. It helps establish a code of conduct that everyone must abide by. Without morality or propriety there would be chaos with every person free to think and act based on what they want or what they think is correct. Moral standards ensure that there is a code we live by and the goals and living of all members of society are aligned. There has been a lot of discussion around the basis of judging moral actions. Some say that the morality of an action should be judged by the results of that action. If the good results are more than the bad results than we can surely label that action as moral.
Every action undertaken has good and bad results. The fact that an action produces more good results than bad means it is more efficacious and hence should be termed as moral. Proponents of such a view also claim that the intentions behind the action are not as important as the results it produces. I do not agree with such a view. Although, it is true that considering the results of an action does give us a tangible entity to judge the action, it should not be the only factor in determining morality. A moral action must produce good results, that should always be the aim, but the failure to achieve it should not be the only deciding factor about its morality. Sometimes actions produce intended results and sometimes they don't. It is sometimes a matter of chance, a matter of different circumstances that might have never been faced before.
The intention with which an action is carried out is a cardinal factor when determining morality. The intent with which an action is carried out, the guiding principles behind an action, the aim it has also play a vital role. If we discard intent as an entity and judge an action based only on the results, it gives people the flexibility to act out of will, to do whatever they want. This might not be beneficial in the long run.
For example - There are two companies C and D who are facing a financial crisis. The CEO of company C decides to launch a new scheme that will help the company secure new funds that will help the company pay off its debts. The decision is well within legal terms but for some reason the company was not able to get the funds and the situation gets exacerbated. The CEO of company D aims to resolve the crisis by getting the company involved in illegal activities, money laundering, etc. At the end manages to pull the company out of crisis. In this case we can not say that the action undertaken by company D was moral just because it was able to produce intended results. Although, company C is still facing crisis the action taken by it was moral because it did not violate principles just to get the work done.
Thus, the intent with which an action is undertaken definitely should be accounted for while judging the morality of an action. The results the action produces should be considered but it should be given minimal weightage because morality is a value that is absolute, it is not flexible in it's definition. The results of an action should have some or least significance in deciding its morality.
Comments
Essay evaluations by e-grader
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 731, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: don't
...uce intended results and sometimes they dont. It is sometimes a matter of chance, a ...
^^^^
Line 5, column 208, Rule ID: HAVE_PART_AGREEMENT[2]
Message: Possible agreement error -- use past participle here: 'played'.
Suggestion: played
...s behind an action, the aim it has also play a vital role. If we discard intent as a...
^^^^
Line 6, column 361, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
...nds and the situation gets exacerbated. The CEO of company D aims to resolve the cr...
^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, hence, if, so, still, thus, well, while, for example, it is true
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 37.0 19.5258426966 189% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 19.0 12.4196629213 153% => OK
Conjunction : 17.0 14.8657303371 114% => OK
Relative clauses : 20.0 11.3162921348 177% => OK
Pronoun: 46.0 33.0505617978 139% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 60.0 58.6224719101 102% => OK
Nominalization: 4.0 12.9106741573 31% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2625.0 2235.4752809 117% => OK
No of words: 576.0 442.535393258 130% => OK
Chars per words: 4.55729166667 5.05705443957 90% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.89897948557 4.55969084622 107% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.43101679121 2.79657885939 87% => OK
Unique words: 237.0 215.323595506 110% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.411458333333 0.4932671777 83% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 840.6 704.065955056 119% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.59117977528 94% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 9.0 6.24550561798 144% => OK
Article: 14.0 4.99550561798 280% => Less articles wanted as sentence beginning.
Subordination: 2.0 3.10617977528 64% => OK
Conjunction: 1.0 1.77640449438 56% => OK
Preposition: 4.0 4.38483146067 91% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 29.0 20.2370786517 143% => OK
Sentence length: 19.0 23.0359550562 82% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 38.6315255735 60.3974514979 64% => OK
Chars per sentence: 90.5172413793 118.986275619 76% => OK
Words per sentence: 19.8620689655 23.4991977007 85% => OK
Discourse Markers: 2.58620689655 5.21951772744 50% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.97078651685 101% => OK
Language errors: 3.0 7.80617977528 38% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 12.0 10.2758426966 117% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 12.0 5.13820224719 234% => Less negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 5.0 4.83258426966 103% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.44164842013 0.243740707755 181% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.140113152636 0.0831039109588 169% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.138246329739 0.0758088955206 182% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.27704569858 0.150359130593 184% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.116422738226 0.0667264976115 174% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 10.0 14.1392134831 71% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 60.65 48.8420337079 124% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.92365168539 111% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 9.5 12.1743820225 78% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 9.17 12.1639044944 75% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.24 8.38706741573 86% => OK
difficult_words: 97.0 100.480337079 97% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 8.0 11.8971910112 67% => OK
gunning_fog: 9.6 11.2143820225 86% => OK
text_standard: 10.0 11.7820224719 85% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 58.33 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.5 Out of 6
---------------------
Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 731, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: don't
...uce intended results and sometimes they dont. It is sometimes a matter of chance, a ...
^^^^
Line 5, column 208, Rule ID: HAVE_PART_AGREEMENT[2]
Message: Possible agreement error -- use past participle here: 'played'.
Suggestion: played
...s behind an action, the aim it has also play a vital role. If we discard intent as a...
^^^^
Line 6, column 361, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
...nds and the situation gets exacerbated. The CEO of company D aims to resolve the cr...
^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, hence, if, so, still, thus, well, while, for example, it is true
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 37.0 19.5258426966 189% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 19.0 12.4196629213 153% => OK
Conjunction : 17.0 14.8657303371 114% => OK
Relative clauses : 20.0 11.3162921348 177% => OK
Pronoun: 46.0 33.0505617978 139% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 60.0 58.6224719101 102% => OK
Nominalization: 4.0 12.9106741573 31% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2625.0 2235.4752809 117% => OK
No of words: 576.0 442.535393258 130% => OK
Chars per words: 4.55729166667 5.05705443957 90% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.89897948557 4.55969084622 107% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.43101679121 2.79657885939 87% => OK
Unique words: 237.0 215.323595506 110% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.411458333333 0.4932671777 83% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 840.6 704.065955056 119% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.59117977528 94% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 9.0 6.24550561798 144% => OK
Article: 14.0 4.99550561798 280% => Less articles wanted as sentence beginning.
Subordination: 2.0 3.10617977528 64% => OK
Conjunction: 1.0 1.77640449438 56% => OK
Preposition: 4.0 4.38483146067 91% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 29.0 20.2370786517 143% => OK
Sentence length: 19.0 23.0359550562 82% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 38.6315255735 60.3974514979 64% => OK
Chars per sentence: 90.5172413793 118.986275619 76% => OK
Words per sentence: 19.8620689655 23.4991977007 85% => OK
Discourse Markers: 2.58620689655 5.21951772744 50% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.97078651685 101% => OK
Language errors: 3.0 7.80617977528 38% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 12.0 10.2758426966 117% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 12.0 5.13820224719 234% => Less negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 5.0 4.83258426966 103% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.44164842013 0.243740707755 181% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.140113152636 0.0831039109588 169% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.138246329739 0.0758088955206 182% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.27704569858 0.150359130593 184% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.116422738226 0.0667264976115 174% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 10.0 14.1392134831 71% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 60.65 48.8420337079 124% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.92365168539 111% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 9.5 12.1743820225 78% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 9.17 12.1639044944 75% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.24 8.38706741573 86% => OK
difficult_words: 97.0 100.480337079 97% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 8.0 11.8971910112 67% => OK
gunning_fog: 9.6 11.2143820225 86% => OK
text_standard: 10.0 11.7820224719 85% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 58.33 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.5 Out of 6
---------------------
Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.