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Rightness of Action and Jaina Ethics
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asceticism etc., and he may act rightly from a bad motive for instance feeling of revenge may be able to check certain criminal actions. However, in the former case we regard actions as wrong whereas in the latter we regard them as right. This means that the consideration of motives does not make any difference to the rightness or wrongness of actions. In other words, goodness or badness of disposition is to be distinguished from the rightness or wrongness of conduct. Thus, if a right action is done from a good motive and the same action is done from a bad motive, though the goodness of the consequences will be the same yet 'the presence of the good motive will mean the presence of an additional good in the one case which is absent in the other.1
In conclusion, we may say that according to Jaina ethics the criterion of right or wrong is the goodness or badness of consequences. It rejects the view that certain rules ought absolutely always to be followed, whatever the consequences may be. No action is to be unconditionally done or avoided. No actions can be our duty irrespective of the goodness of the consequences. The question whether an action is right or wrong does not depend on motives, and the presence of motive, whether good or bad, constitutes an additional factor in the rightness or wrongness of actions.
1 Moore: Ethics, p. 115 (Oxford University Press, London).
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