The "important and more important" principle, and the unethical theory of justification
Subject Areas : Ethics and Islamic Education
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Abstract :
The subject of “ethics in governing and ruling” has always been of interest to scholars and thinkers of all societies. Ethics in politics or ethical politics is still a controversial issue among great thinkers of political and moral philosophy. Having a short look at the theories of philosophers from different schools about the relationship between ethics and politics, and having made a comparison between Plato, Aristotle, Marx, and Machiavelli, this article tries to describe and present the viewpoint of the Qur’an and ‘Ali ibn Abi-Talib about the matter. This article shows that the principal ruling method recommended by Niccolo Machiavelli, which is practically accepted by all rulers, and that is instrumentality in statebuilding –an approach represented by the saying “the ends justify the means.” Whereas, the Prophet of Islam's son-in-law, his closest companion, and his chosen successor; ‘Ali ibn Abi-Talib, has explicitly rejected this idea, And then, we have refered to the views of Shia jurists on the topic, and rooted out the "important and more important" principle and the determinants in case of contradiction, showing that the Quran and Hadith have allowed employing forbidden means only in the exceptional case of "saving humans' life," and it cannot be generalized to all cases of two contradictory gains.
