Heinz's Dilemma is the classic example of the conflict between intention
and action. Briefly summed up, the short story is about a man who breaks the
law for a good reason. Does his intention outweigh is action? That is the
question.
Another intention versus action
example is an older man sexually assaults a young woman; upon hearing about the
incident, the girl’s father rushes to the man’s home and beats him to death.
Although this example might be extreme, it is something that happens in today’s
society. People take the law into their own hands for good reasons, but do
their positive intentions outweigh the fact that they broke the law?
Both situations are quite
complicated, and the lines between right and wrong are indistinct. On one hand,
it was wrong for the scientist to raise medicine prices or for the older man to
assault the young woman. There is no defending the wrong actions behind the
drug prices or the assault. However, the actions in response to the two stories
are also wrong. Heinz shouldn’t have stolen the medicine, and the father
shouldn’t have beaten the rapist to death. Crime (or injustice in the case of
the medicine) is met with crime. But are the crimes in response to previous
crimes justified? Do two wrongs make a right? No.
Although positive intentions may be
behind negative actions, that does not make the crimes any less wrong. If the
law was broken, punishment is due to the lawbreaker. However, intention should
be taken into account for the crime. For example, instead of being charged with
second-degree murder for beating the rapist to death, the father might be
charged with manslaughter.
In conclusion, both scenarios are
quite complex. But when whittled down to the core of the issue, one can see
that although there was wrong done in the beginning of each story, which does
not mean that it is okay to combat those wrongs with wrong. In the end, although
intention affects the way an action is seen; intention will never outweigh
action.
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