If a goal is worthy, then any means taken to attain it are justifiable.

To address this issue we should first know that the worthiness of a goal cannot be estimated objectively and more is a subjective manner. The goal and the means to reach that goal was the topic of many philosophical debates and it is still open to argue as there is not a consensus of the worthiness of a goal. Its subjectivity rests on the fact that worthiness of a goal is tied with its conclusion, and then it depends on what benefits gets to whom. In what follows consider these two points.

First, many of goal merited once that they are concluded, otherwise, the retrospective goal may seem a futile attempt. Having been aware of the possible failure of the theory of relativity, Albert Einstein quotes an interesting sentence: “If my theory of relativity is proven successful, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare me a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German, and Germany will declare that I am a Jew.” Hence we see that conclusion determines whether a retrospective goal was valid or not for societies.

Now, beneficiaries of goal are another aspect determining the worthiness of a goal. When one individual benefits from having something in expense of suffering of his/her society, the goal may be worthy for the individual but for the society, it is not. Take those who embezzled millions of dollars of a nation and make their luxurious life at the expense of the downtrodden people of that nation.

Finally, even if the two previous criteria is met _ a goal has a conclusion and it is for the greater good of societies_ still we cannot resort to any mean to reach that goal. Machiavellian approach says that a good end justifies bad things toward reaching that goal. However, sometimes the inalienable rights of human beings are at stake that we cannot justify sacrificing them. Consider the ending of the World War. Still burning 129.000 people in Japan into ashes is not still justified, no matter how much the war needed to be ended. The United States of America still cannot get away with the atomic bombing on the Japanese people.

In short, as discussed, the worthiness of a goal is depended on whether it has any conclusion, and also to whom the benefits may reach. Furthermore, even we define an objective goal, still we cannot take any measure we seem proper in reaching that goal, as it may cast questions on our humanity.