Editing Intention over Action

[[File:Screenshot of Vivian Wilson post about Elon Musk.png|thumb|alt=You are not "saving the planet", you do not give a fuck about climate change and you're lying about multi-planetary civilization as both an excuse, and because you want to seem like the CEO from Ready Player One.|It's likely true Elon Musk primarily wants to get rich, but he is in fact advancing technology towards halting climate change]]


[[File:Reddit Screenshot about Ulta donation ad on Ellen's show.png|thumb|alt=This wasn't some Noble exercise made by the producers as a warm-hearted effort to try to convince the people of America to open their wallets to charitable causes. This was a dog and pony show to make somebody dance around for rich people so that they have a reason to part with some of their money for a good cause. There is literally nothing that stops Ulta from giving whatever money they planned to give to charity, but they want some free advertising first! Everything has to be transactional and businesses refuse to even pretend to actually give a shit.|It's considered bad that they don't actually give a shit]]

[[Intention over Action]] is the default moral doctrine of most people. It isn't enough to act in a certain way. It is necessary to also believe in a certain way.

This belief is related to [[The Copenhagen Interpretation of Ethics]]. One who adheres to this doctrine will find it insufficient for someone to help a cause. The person must also believe in the cause or else their contribution to the cause may be opposed, whether or not the cause will be advanced or retarded by the action.

There are some classic examples of this:

# Housing developers shouldn't be allowed to build houses because their primary objective is making money, not making housing affordable
# Electric vehicle manufacturers shouldn't be encouraged because they don't want to help with climate change, just make money
# Mr Beast shouldn't be lauded for helping poor people because he is just seeking attention, not helping the poor out of altruism
# Corporations that give to charity don't really want to be charitable; they just want advertising attention

In some sense, this is a self-defeating view of any movement since those who care sufficiently in the movement are already part of it. The limiting factor is recruiting those who do not care sufficiently. 

Many movements favour conversion: transforming people who don't care into people who care. These frequently also have the notion of [[wikipedia:Kafir|Kafir]]s, non-believers. These are usually limited by the amount of force they can apply to people.

Other movements favour acceptance: allowing contributors to advancing the cause to do so without requiring adherence to the cause itself. In recent times, the most successful use of this is in the [[wikipedia:Straight ally|Straight Ally]] concept in LGBT rights. Included among the fight for LGBT rights are the Libertarian Party which famously stood both for gay rights ''and homophobia'' (so long as it did not involve coercion)<ref name="LibertarianView">Libertarianism.org. "Gay Rights: A Libertarian Approach." [https://www.libertarianism.org/publications/essays/gay-rights-libertarian-approach https://www.libertarianism.org/publications/essays/gay-rights-libertarian-approach]. Accessed on 2024-08-06. Section III. The Libertarian View.</ref>. Likely the widespread success of this movement is in its approach to general acceptance. Even though most people are unlikely to be gay, they are welcome to support the cause without actively partaking. Additionally, and perhaps significantly, large [[wikipedia:Pride parade|Pride Parades]] involve corporations to a massive degree, and this is encouraged by LGBT organizations as they seek normalization of their sexualities.

Considering that the default position most people take requires intention, this approach to LGBT rights was probably arrived at by a concrete attempt at [[wikipedia:Big tent|big tent politics]] by initial organizers.

[[Intention over Action]] is therefore likely a moral doctrine that leads to a local optimum in cause adoption. Success of a cause involves the participation of non-believers convinced to do so for whatever reason.

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[[Category:Concepts]]