What does the concept "the ends justify the means" actually mean?

Question

sorry if this is an obvious question, im 16 and just trying to figure out some college literature from machiavelli

Answer 1

"The ends justify the means" means that all that matters is the end result.  The path you took to get to the end is irrelevant.  So the "ends" (or the results) justify the "means" (or the path).  It's usually a phrase used when immoral behavior is used for a good purpose.

Answer 2

A prime example would be that guy on Survivor, that lied and said  his grandmother died in order to get the money. He played on everybody's sympathy to get the money..

So in a nut shell .... It doesn't matter how you got to the end the rainbow, or even how many people you hurt in the process to get there.. All that matters is the sparkling pot of gold..that is sitting in from of you. The end justified the means

Answer 3

The phrase is, "The end DOES NOT justify the means."

The means that even if the "end" that you seek is a noble end, you may not use immoral, illegal, unethical methods (means) to achieve it.

It means that no "end" is worth having if all the rules of human conduct must be broken to achieve it.

Answer 4

It means it is important enought that reguardless of what action you take it is justified to get the end result.

Answer 5

Meaning, what has been done to bring about the desired end result.

Morally there is an argument for whether the means are morally justified. Which brings to mind the question of is it moral to sacrifice the few for the many. Or should the many be sacrificed in the name of diplomacy or non action.

Therein resides another saying 'two wrongs don't make a right'.