Action vs. Intent

In this blog I want to bring together the topic of intent that we were discussing last class. We never came to any conclusion about whether a person should be judged on his intentions or his actions. Originally, I felt that a person should be judged on his intentions. I always believed that motives showed a person's inner-self; its harder to hide yourself in your motives than in your actions. However, after partaking in our discussion on Monday, I am beginning to think that what matter more, at least here on Earth, is your actions. A person's intentions, whether good or bad, never directly influence the world. Rather, your actions always make some impact on the world, no matter how big or small. So even if some has horrible intentions but ends up doing something good through them it is better than someone who has good intentions but ends up doing nothing, or even worse, something bad with them. You always here people saying I meant to send you a birthday card, but I forgot, or I really meant to work out today but I never had time. It is true that they had good intentions, but those intentions led to nothing. Only through actions can a person better himself or others.

After reading Socrates and Euthyphro's discussion on piety, I began to wonder how Socrates and Euthyphro would feel about our discussion of intent versus action. I would like to try to discuss in class exactly how we think both men would respond to our discussion. I have made some of my own conclusions but I don't have a textual evidence to support them, so I want to wait until a class discussion, if we are able to have one, to make any claims.