Score:
7/10
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Topper’s Copy
GS4
Ethics: Theory
10 marks
Can an action be considered ethical if it achieves a good outcome through morally questionable means? Discuss with suitable examples.
Student’s Answer
Evaluation by SuperKalam
Demand of the Question
- Why a good outcome alone might justify bad means
- Why morally bad means can never justify good ends
- Real life examples showing this conflict in public life
What you wrote:
"Means are after all everything. As the means, so the end" - Mahatma Gandhi
An action cannot be considered ethically justified merely because it produces a desirable outcome. Its moral worth must also be assessed in terms of the means, intentions and values underlying it.
"Means are after all everything. As the means, so the end" - Mahatma Gandhi
An action cannot be considered ethically justified merely because it produces a desirable outcome. Its moral worth must also be assessed in terms of the means, intentions and values underlying it.
Suggestions to improve:
- Could identify Gandhi’s quotation as a **means-centred position**, preparing readers for the contrasting ethical perspectives discussed later.
What you wrote:
From a consequential perspective, an action may be justified by its beneficial results. For instance, breaking traffic rules to rush an accident victim may save a life. However, deontological ethics emphasises moral duties and principles, torturing a suspect to prevent a terrorist attack remains questionable despite its potential benefits.
From a consequential perspective, an action may be justified by its beneficial results. For instance, breaking traffic rules to rush an accident victim may save a life. However, deontological ethics emphasises moral duties and principles, torturing a suspect to prevent a terrorist attack remains questionable despite its potential benefits.
Suggestions to improve:
- Can connect **Kant’s humanity principle** to torture, explaining why treating persons merely as instruments violates dignity.
- Could test the rescue example through **overall consequences**, including risks created for other road users.
What you wrote:
Similarly, a public servant manipulating data to demonstrate the success of a welfare scheme may achieve targets but compromises integrity, accountability and public trust.
Nevertheless, exceptional circumstances may require balancing competing ethical obligations, guided by necessity and proportionality.
Similarly, a public servant manipulating data to demonstrate the success of a welfare scheme may achieve targets but compromises integrity, accountability and public trust.
Nevertheless, exceptional circumstances may require balancing competing ethical obligations, guided by necessity and proportionality.
Suggestions to improve:
- Can distinguish **reported target achievement** from actual welfare; manipulating records does not establish a genuinely beneficial outcome.
- Could use **Snowden’s disclosures** to illustrate the conflict between public transparency, confidentiality obligations and national security.
- Can apply **necessity and proportionality** to your rescue example by checking whether safer, lawful alternatives were available.
What you wrote:
Thus, end and means must be evaluated together. In public administration, ethical conduct requires achieving public welfare without compromising constitutional values, human dignity and institutional integrity.
Thus, end and means must be evaluated together. In public administration, ethical conduct requires achieving public welfare without compromising constitutional values, human dignity and institutional integrity.
Suggestions to improve:
- Could end with a **qualified verdict**, distinguishing exceptional rule-breaking from serious violations such as torture.
- Can connect **constitutional values** to your examples, contrasting emergency rescue with dishonest welfare reporting.
Your answer is balanced, coherent and philosophically relevant. Strengthen the deontological judgment, distinguish genuine welfare from reported success, and add a real-life example.
Demand of the Question
- Why a good outcome alone might justify bad means
- Why morally bad means can never justify good ends
- Real life examples showing this conflict in public life
What you wrote:
"Means are after all everything. As the means, so the end" - Mahatma Gandhi
An action cannot be considered ethically justified merely because it produces a desirable outcome. Its moral worth must also be assessed in terms of the means, intentions and values underlying it.
"Means are after all everything. As the means, so the end" - Mahatma Gandhi
An action cannot be considered ethically justified merely because it produces a desirable outcome. Its moral worth must also be assessed in terms of the means, intentions and values underlying it.
Suggestions to improve:
- Could identify Gandhi’s quotation as a **means-centred position**, preparing readers for the contrasting ethical perspectives discussed later.
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