The Colorado College Fifty
Year Club Officers
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A special seminar and discussion led by CC Professor Bill Hochman.Tuesday, March 16 $15 per person |
Freedom and Authority promotes the free exchange of ideas across campus in an exciting intellectual atmosphere.From Professor Hochman… Ends and Means in Politics and Life |
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"Our discussion will focus on the place of morality in the conduct of important human affairs. We are concerned about the prevalent belief that the end often justifies the means, that is, if an end is desirable, means of any sort may be used to arrive there. It is a view often associated with international diplomacy and war making, for example, in the doctrine of preemptive war, advanced by the administration to justify the war on Iraq. The idea is present in the Patriot Act and other governmental measures in the war on terrorism, where the emphasis is on security at the expense of traditional liberties and practices. Distinguished scholars have gone so far as to discuss the use of torture in present circumstances. The idea that the end justifies the means seems prevalent in business life - witness the extraordinary rash of business malpractices catalogued almost daily in the newspapers. The amoral doctrine is often in evidence on athletic fields in the doctrine that winning is everything, and in the use of performance enhancing drugs. But if ends are of great importance (national security, for example), what is wrong about using whatever means are available to realize them? Do vitally important ends justify extraordinary means?" Reserve today! |