Intention over Action

It's likely true Elon Musk primarily wants to get rich, but he is in fact advancing technology towards halting climate change

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:

1. Housing developers shouldn't be allowed to build houses because their primary objective is making money, not making housing affordable
2. Electric vehicle manufacturers shouldn't be encouraged because they don't want to help with climate change, just make money
3. Mr Beast shouldn't be lauded for helping poor people because he is just seeking attention, not helping the poor out of altruism
4. 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 Kafirs, 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 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). 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 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 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.