Is helping others a good thing?

Now I think we all agree that helping the needy and the poor is always a good thing.

But I am talking more about other kind of help. The kind that can be used potentially for evil or for purposes you plainly disagree.

For instance (just for example purposes) let's suppose you are a teaching people how to use computers for free (at expert level) for them to have good jobs and they use that knwoledge to steal credit cards

Or you are a martial artist expert and your intention is for them to be honrable and disciplined adn they become bullies instead.

Would it be a good think to help people if thta help could be used for evil or morally ambigous purposes?

I have always considered writting guides for free (for isntance I wrote three writting guides on this site). But the fear that information being used for bad thing has remained.

What do you think? Is helping others a good thing?

edited 11th Mar '12 11:16:03 PM by FallenLegend

I'll save people's lives when they are in danger. Any more than that they'll have to do themselves.

What makes the things that someone else chooses to do with knowledge or skills my responsibility just because I taught them, assuming that the knowledge or skill isn't something that can only be used to bad ends. What makes other peoples' actions my responsibility?

Anything, no matter how innocent or useful can somehow be twisted into bad, if someone wants to try hard enough. What they do with the knowledge or skill is their responsibility, not their teacher's.

How much would your answer change if you knew someone was trying to gain knowledge to use in a malicious way?

There is a way to teach people things while minimizing the danger (you cant eliminate it). For example, any smart dojo owner can tell you that you make the beginners learn a bunch of boring basics first, and make them earn the ability to learn the dangerous stuff only after they have demonstrated self-control and judgement. That wont help with your rare evil genius, of course, but it generally keeps the bullies out. I presume something similar works with almost any set of skills...

^^ If I was absolutely certain that they intended to use the things I taught them to do damage, I would decline to teach them. But not because their evil would be my direct responsibility; rather because I would be being irresponsible in teaching them, and my actions are my responsibility. Their actions are not my responsibility.

Helping in terms of granting knowledge is almost always a good thing. What they choose to do with the information is their prerogative.

I think that if I teach ten people to box, and nine of them use it to protect themselves and others, it's more than worth the one who uses it to do harm.

Not to mention that there is the possibility that the other nine will be ble o and are going to stop that one, and you probably will do the same.

I personally feel that teaching others and imparting information is in general a good thing. I want to better myself and learn from others and I want to help others better themselves by teaching them what I know as well.

There's the danger of them potentially using the skills for evil but if I refused to do such things because of the risk of it being used for wrong or doing harm then I'd hardly do anything at all let alone teach anyone. As Maddy said anything can be twisted for bad ends. If I sit there and worry about this I'm not going to get things done and I'm not going to do as much good as I feel I should be doing.

If I absolutely know that someone is going to do fucked up shit with what I teach them beyond a shadow of a doubt I wouldn't. Of course that's assuming I know that which in many cases I probably don't.

That and how much evil is one going to commit with paper folding? I guess the evil of selling pieces of fancy paper for exorbitant prices?

Unless of course they learn how to raise origami golems.

This isn't that complicated. One's intentions are all that is required for something to be considered "good".

If you taught someone something so that they may have lives that are that much better, for example, you have done a good thing. If you taught them the same thing because you wanted them to inflict harm, as another example, you have done wrong.

Of course, there are nuances. If you teach anything to anyone solely in the name of good acts, heedless of the consequences, you risk becoming a problem unto yourself. But if you make no attempts at good solely because someone could use it for something untoward, you become worse than any problem you perceive, because you choose not to act, rather than to act responsibly with your good intentions, as in, not to teach a guy cackling and twirling his handlebar mustache about how to rig explosives to bridges. You also have way too little faith in humanity, and this is coming from a cynic.

I had this ethic dilema on an ethics class. Iam liking the replies so far

Teaching someone a skill that can help them in life is a good thing unless, say, you're at shooting range and someone walks up and says that they want to learn how to shoot so they can kill a bunch of people that used to tease them as a kid.

Giving someone the potential to better their life is good, after you give them the potential it's up to them to decide what to do with that, and unless you have specific reason to believe that they're going to do something horrible with it, how they use that potential is purely up to them.

FL, no offense, but would you like some help with your spelling and grammar?

I'm more or less agreeing with the mob here, that it's fine unless you know for sure a person has wicked intentions. If you have no idea what they're going to do with this knowledge, not your problem.

FL, no offense, but would you like some help with your spelling and grammar?

I am embarrased that's the only thing I can say

Unless you can read minds, you can't tell if someone is going to use their skills for bad intentions. There's a billion other influences that will tempt people to do bad things and they will use what they know to do it. There's no correlation between bad actions and skills used to do it.

I don't see a dilemma here at all.

Here's how I figure it: I'm not going to take the blame for the evil someone does with knowledge or skills I gave them unless I am equally insistent that I get the credit for all the good they do with the skills and knowledge I gave them. If I'm responsible if they do something bad, I'm equally responsible if they do something good.

edited 12th Mar '12 8:27:08 PM by Madrugada

I like that response.

I agree is better no to worry about others.

I apologize, the way I phrased that was ill-thought out. I'm a bit of a spelling/grammar nazi, that's all.

I think that if you're that worried that someone might take the knowledge you give them and use it to malicious ends, then simply don't teach it. If you keep it to yourself, you can probably come up with some imaginative way to make your knowledge work for you and profit from it much more than anyone that might learn it from you.

On the other hand, if you aren't worried, then go right ahead and spread it around. No one's stopping you, and you just might help further humanity's continued existence.

As someone whose overall life philosophy is "survival of the fittest," I'd be more likely to tend to the former. Sometimes I'll be a good samaritan and teach others if I'm in a particularly good mood, but beyond that I don't help others unless someone I care about is in danger.

edited 13th Mar '12 10:42:38 AM by Yomegami

The phrase is "Good Samaritan." A sanitarian is an expert in the field of sanitation.

i.e. a 'cleaner'.

Well, if you wanna put it simply.

I have to agree with post #16 up there, pretty much. But, if it's clear that somebody is going to use what you teach them to do harm, then it's probably best to find someone else to teach.

AKA the 'no Kung-Fu for psychos' rule.

x5 You can blame Spellcheck for that one. I had a feeling it chose the wrong word.

My original point still stands, though.