Intentions of an Action
Intention can be understood in several different ways. Many moralists define intention as the purpose for which an action is done. Intention is the answer to the question, "What is the action trying to achieve?" The importance of intention becomes apparent even when an external action may appear good. A brutal dictator, for example, may build schools and hospitals only to give an appearance to the outside world that is not true. Despite the fact the external action appears to be the "right" ethical decision to the outside world, the intention of the action changes the "rightness" of the ethical decision.
We can look at the Fixing a Car case study to see this. The case study has two possible outcomes:
- Everett attempts to fix the car
- Everett tells Sabra that he cannot fix the car
Let's look at the intentions of the first choice: Everett attempts to fix the car. The external action of fixing the car is obviously a good one, however, his choice of working slowly to fix the problem puts the decision in a "gray area." The converse of this can also hold true. Both the Tuskegee case studies and the Experimenting on Animals case study show how a "wrong" external action with "right" intentions can lead to a debate on the correct course of action.
