Does Intention Matter?

[caamora]

My two cents since it is Saturday morning at the Watch!

The act does matter more than the intent.

However, I see the difference as the celebrity who gives to a charity to make themself look good versus the person who is working day in and day out for little pay because they care.

In our society, it is the celebrity who would get the acknowledgement, sadly, not the truly good person who is trying to help because they have compassion and character.

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We do good things & bad things, morally, legally, ethically, personally, and in everyway mess things up and try to straighten them up again. It’s just life.

Welcome to the Watch DigitalThought. I'm not sure though how this affects the question of whether we mean to do something good, even though it turns out bad, makes the bad not as bad, if you see what I mean.

Caam, well said. Now who is actually doing the better deed in your scenario? The celebrity? Or the everyday guy just getting by and still giving what he can?

--A

[matrixman]

Judging people solely by their intentions...hmm, taken to its logical extreme, would this mean eventually arresting people purely on intention before they've done anything? Like the Pre-Crime Unit in Minority Report? The Thought Police? Big Brother? Of course, this assumes the existence of some form of mind-reading technology. I seriously hope I'll be long dead before such a technique becomes reality.

Good post, caamora. Something to think about.

Also agree with Wayfriend's views (on a lot of things).

Nope, no big philosophical statement from me. (Disappears in a puff of existential smoke.)

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I was thinking more of 2000AD's PSI Division myself, but I suppose it's the same thing. (Never seen Minority Report).

I gotta agree with MM though, I'd hate the thought of being arrested for what you think. Damn! I'd be arressted and executed long ago if that was the case.

*inhales existential smoke deeply and holds*

--A

[The Somberlain]

Judging people solely by their intentions...hmm, taken to its logical extreme, would this mean eventually arresting people purely on intention before they've done anything? Like the Pre-Crime Unit in Minority Report? The Thought Police? Big Brother? Of course, this assumes the existence of some form of mind-reading technology. I seriously hope I'll be long dead before such a technique becomes reality.

Now... in theory, I honestly don't have a huge problem with this. In theory. If the technology was foolproof, and worked 100% of the time. And assuming that this was then used to identify people who were intending to commit crimes, and then help to treat them before they hurt anyone.

But, using your examples, in Minority Report the technology is not foolproof. And something like that could never be proven to be. Well, unless, say, they tried it ten thousand times, but did nothing... and then the crime happened as predicted. But even then... so I don't think that in a real life situation I'd be happy.

And in Nineteen Eighty-four, both the nature of a "crime" and the action taken on the potential criminal are horribly, horribly abused.


Which is why, as I think I tried to say but maybe failed earlier, in a real situation the consequence of the action needs to be taken into account. Because we don't and can't know what someone really intended to do. When I said the intention is all that matters, that'd be my view from a... a God-perspective.

Since in reality people lie, and are unpredictable, and all sorts of other things, a court has to look at actual hard evidence - the act - and extrapolate the likely intentions from that.

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Based on the outcome, at least in part.

Also, there's a difference between thinking of killing somebody, (which I'm sure we all do frequently), and actually killing them.

I'm not prepared to accept the idea of "thought-crimes".

Thinking something isn't a crime. Only doing it. (Assuming it's a criminal act...you know what I mean.)

--A

[Raen]

We make intentions because we plan to act on them. Intentions are pre-meditated. That is why in murder cases they are important. We also have other intentions. We intend to pay our bills on time. We intend to live long lives and we intend to post on this website. Intentions matter so long as we plan our lives. If we don't have intentions then we are not planning and therefore we are not responsible people. We choose to be responsible therefore we have intentions and yes, if we plan to kill someone then we had intentions and therefore we are responsible for what we had done, just like anything else in our lives that we plan to do.

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But what about when you do something good for a selfish reason? does your intention, (selfishness), reduce the "good" of your act?

--A

[Raen]

You have to wonder about the motifs about the act upon which someone calls another one selfish. Is it because they are jealous of that person? Is it selfish to think about yourself? This is an opinion rather than a fact. I think about myself, does it make me a bad person? Its all wording. I'm sure in the eyes of a church it would be a bad act to think about yourself while you are serving others but lets face it, churches think about themselves as well- otherwise how would they survive. When Celebrities do it, people like to talk bad about them because they are jealous of their wealth; therefore I think no, the intent to give even under other intentions does not demean their character, .....the intent to accuse one another of the action of being selfish --now that is to be thought about.

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Hmm, interesting question. Do we reveal something about ourselves by even questioning that intent?

Perhaps we do. On the one hand, I'll certainly agree that to the recipient, the intent doesn't make the slightest bit of difference.

On the other, I can't help but feeling that those who "do good" to look good demean themselves in some way, if nobody else.

--A

[The Somberlain]

Perhaps we do. On the one hand, I'll certainly agree that to the recipient, the intent doesn't make the slightest bit of difference.

--A

That works with the no-good do-gooder who donates to Oxfam or wherever.

But... the question could be rephrased as: "Does the thought count?"... which allows me to use that most common of examples: gifts. To the recipient of a birthday present, perhaps the thought behind it DOES make a difference? I think it would for me.
Which isn't to say I wouldn't be grateful for a great present given by someone who didn't really care or put much thought into it (they didn't have the intent of giving me something I'd like, their intent was that they wouldn't look mean by not giving me something) - but I'd be more appreciative of the cheaper present that'd had more thought and care put into it.

I'm sure a better, less frivolous example could be thought of, but... I can't come up with one.

[Digital Thought]

Does Intention Matter? Or is only the result that matters?

Permit me to explain; I often see news reports of famous people giving money to charity; and often hear people say something like "Oh, they're only doing it to make themselves seem good, not because they care."

And that raises a big question for me, which is; does it matter whether they are doing it for the right or wrong reasons, so long as it gets done?

And I am not just speaking of giving money to charities or things of that sort; I'm speaking of every day life. Intention and what happens aren't always the same...

Manslaughter and Murder; two entirely different things in conception; and two exactly the same in result. So intention does matter to the law. But what I'm saying is; is there really any difference between the two? I mean the death still happened, regardless of what the intentions of the killer was.

Both good and bad get done everyday, and people often doubt the intentions of those that do these acts, but does it matter? the act (good or bad) is done; so what do the reasons behind it matter?

Excellent post.

Is there an underlying question here?
You bring up Charity, Corporate Reputation, Morality, Legal Definition, Remorse, lack of it, and loss. And make your Question more clear. It’s well written & thought out.

I think though, that the answer is the result is the intention in most all circumstances, and the rest are from liars or those who can’t tell the difference, the insane. So for the vast majority of us, I believe that we all intend to achieve a result from our actions. We give $20 to the man with the dinging bell in front of Sears in the cold winter because we know that he’s doing that for charity & represents a charity that will get money to people instead of loopholes. Or, we put our clothes in recyclers instead of the trash because we know that some 16yr old is out there with no shoes, 1 pair of jeans, a few shirts, and some mismatched socks. No underwear. And besides that of other children, no griping about it.

I guess I believe that people aren’t all intending for a purpose that has a ill result, but I’m sure that there are a significant percent of them. Rather I believe & have experienced quite the opposite. And I’ve lived the same way. I intend to do things which have a positive impact on those around me & myself. So if you had an underlying question or not, I think that the answer is yes. It does matter. The intention creates the result in most applications in real world settings with real world people doing real world things.

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Good post Digital Thought. The intention certainly creates the result, although they may be opposed in principle to each other in rare cases.

The intention does matter in creating the result, but the result isn't necessarily part of the intention.

The example you offer, of giving money to the guy on the corner ringing the bell say. You could be giving it to make yourself feel good about helping, if you know what I mean.

Whether you do or not though, the real point is that people got helped, I think.

--A