> The "ends justify the means' only if you are a consequentialist, and that's
> a controversial theory. Anyway, not even then. This is sloppy talk. People
> should reread the Trotsky-Dewey debate (Their Moral and Ours), in which two
> parties from different perspectives, both consequentialists who think that
> what makes an action right is that it promotes the good, agree that good
> ends do not justify any means whatsoever, and that there are means that
> undermine any good that might come out of their use. And then there are
> nonconsequentialists like me who think that in most circumstances there are
> near-absolute restrictions on means. For example, torture, I believe, is
> impermissible almost come what may. jks