Success Is As Important As How It Is Achieved

According to Niccolo Machiavelli, "The end justifies the means." Though this expression has become a maxim to many people, it does not excel the test of an ethical examination. A positive end does not justify an evil means; neither does a negative end invalidate a positive means. Success, an end, is as important as the means through which it is achieved. Hence, the end should not be judged in isolation of the means.

Success should not be considered as something complex, as it is visible in the daily and events of life. Success is seen not only in complex and exceptional accomplishments, but also in the simple and ordinary achievements. It is obvious and evident in the common events and activities of life. This is the reason you do not need to look to far to see success, as it is present in the accomplishment of simple goals you set.

However, different people are exceptionally successful in different fields and in different ways. For instance, while some people achieve exceptional success in sports, others do so in music. Yet, some achieve theirs in academics. In the life of every successful person, responsible people are interested in his success and the means through which the success is achieved. It is wrong and unethical to be uninterested in the means of success.

No one is celebrated as a success by a responsible person (or a responsible society) if the means through which his accomplishments are made are unknown or morally unacceptable. The reason is that the moral value of an end is as significant as the moral value of the means through which it is accomplished. An achievement qualifies as success if the means through which it is attained is morally and socially acceptable.

Success can be defined as the accomplishment of a set goal. Any achievement that does not excel the test of moral and social justifications does not qualify to be success. Every success is an achievement but every achievement is not success. Success necessarily has moral and social credentials. Consequently, it is not just the end (success) that is important, but also the means through which it is achieved. No end can be justified by a wrong means, no matter how good the end may (appear to) be.

This is why the Machiavellian Principle, the end justifies the means, is an unacceptable ethical theory. The end is, and will always be, as significant as the means through which it is accomplished. For instance, being wealthy (an end) is good, but stealing in order to become wealthy (the means) is bad. To say that the end justifies the means is to admit that it is good to steal if it can assist someone to become rich. Indeed, this is unethical.

Even committing such wealth at the service of humanity (by assisting those in need) does not justify the means through which the wealth was acquired. This is why there are some people who are wealthy but are not numbered among successful people (by an objective standard) in the society. Though they have everything money can buy, the society does not want to associate with them. some of them are even disowned by their families.

Such people are not, and should not be classified among successful people because they are failures. To fail in your moral life is to be a failure in life indeed. Little wonder the cash cows who achieve financial success by looting their country's treasury are not numbered among the rich in world records. Only those whose sources of income are morally and socially acceptable and justifiable are recognised and honoured as rich people in world's records.

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