{"id":25551,"date":"2015-05-13T09:49:19","date_gmt":"2015-05-13T13:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?p=25551"},"modified":"2015-06-09T12:53:02","modified_gmt":"2015-06-09T16:53:02","slug":"do-intentions-matter-on-sam-harris-and-noam-chomsky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/05\/do-intentions-matter-on-sam-harris-and-noam-chomsky.html","title":{"rendered":"Do Intentions Matter? On Sam Harris and Noam Chomsky"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I just\u00a0read a\u00a0fascinating\u00a0email exchange between Sam Harris and Noam Chomsky. You can read the exchange here<\/a>, and commentary on it here<\/a> and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In sum, Harris refused to back down from his claim that Chomsky has never thought about the ethical import of intentions, even when Chomsky made it very clear that he has, often, for decades. But what came across extremely clearly was how differently the two feel about whether and how intentions matter.<\/p>\n

As Harris put it:<\/p>\n

Ethically speaking, intention is (nearly) the whole story. The difference between intending to harm someone and\u00a0<\/span>accidentally<\/em>\u00a0harming them is enormous\u2014if for no other reason than that the presence of harmful intent tells us a lot about what a person or group is likely to do in the future.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In contrast, Chomski argued\u00a0that even the Japanese and Hitler during WWII arguably had good intentions<\/em>.* Chomski made it clear that he sees\u00a0harm done as significantly more important to the ethicality of an act than the intentions of the perpetrator. He contended that benign intentions coupled with a lack of care for the havoc wreaked by one\u2019s actions could be seen as\u00a0more ethically problematic than malicious intentions\u00a0that at least acknowledge the harm caused.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s particularly odd is what seems, at least at first glance, like a double standard coming from Harris. When looking at U.S. foreign policy Harris\u00a0argues, as quoted above, that intentions are \u201c(nearly) the whole story.\u201d He sees the al-Shifa bombings as ethically justified, even though they destroyed half of Sudan\u2019s medical supplies and led to tens of thousands of deaths, because he believes Clinton honestly believed the plant was a chemical weapons plant (something Chomsky contested). But when it comes to religion and intentions, Harris\u00a0is not generally so charitable.<\/p>\n

My evangelical\u00a0parents had completely good intentions when they adopted the child training methods of Michael and Debi Pearl, and then used corporal punishment to \u201cbreak\u201d their children\u2019s wills. They believed they were doing what they\u00a0had to save our souls\u2014to spare us the pain of eternal torment\u2014and that the physical and psychological suffering they meted out was the necessary price to bring about a greater good. Surely Harris would not see my parents\u2019 actions as ethically justified based on their good intentions?<\/p>\n

Surely Harris is aware that those doing harm in the name of religion often\u00a0have the best of intentions, right? I went digging to try to find somewhere where he has addressed this question, and I came up with this footnote from his End of Faith:<\/p>\n

Are intentions really the bottom line? What are we to say, for instance, about those Christian missionaries in the New World who baptized Indian infants only to promptly kill them, thereby sending them to heaven? Their intentions were (apparently) good. Were their actions ethical? Yes, within the confines of a deplorably limited worldview. The medieval apothecary who gave his patients quicksilver really was trying to help. He was just mistaken about the role this element played in the human body. Intentions matter, but they are not all that matters.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In other words, Harris contends\u00a0that\u00a0baptizing and then killing an Indian infant is \u201cethical . . . within the confines of a deplorably limited worldview.\u201d He would likely argue, then, that my parents actions were \u201cethical\u201d within the context of their specific worldview (particularly with it\u2019s emphasis on a literal hell). Yet\u00a0when it comes to the harm that results from these actions, Harris doesn\u2019t feel the need to bring intentions and ethics into the picture<\/a>:<\/p>\n

There are people who have really been terrorized by their parents, and people who terrorize their kids with a fear of hell, for instance. I hear from people who their entire life \u2014 they\u2019re in their 40s and they\u2019re only now just coming out of the prison of having spent their entire lives being afraid of being tortured (for) an eternity by Satan. This is in the 21st century, in the United States.<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you\u2019ve read more of Harris, feel free to weigh in here. To me it feels as though he is unwilling to give religious individuals who cause harm albeit with good intentions much leeway, but is extremely ready to give U.S. foreign policy which cases harm but has (he claims) good intentions all the leeway in the world. Perhaps this hinges on his argument that harm caused by religion may be \u201cethical . . . within the confines\u00a0of a deplorably limited worldview.\u201d In other words, he may see harm caused by well intentioned U.S. foreign policy decisions as justified because he believes his own worldview, with its view of the global situation and the role of U.S. policy, is the correct one.<\/p>\n

During his email exchange with Chomsky, Harris says that \u201cethically speaking, intention is (nearly) the whole story.\u201d When speaking of U.S. foreign policy, Harris dismisses harm caused by focusing on intentions.<\/p>\n

What did the U.S. government think it was doing when it sent cruise missiles into Sudan? Destroying a chemical weapons site used by Al Qaeda. Did the Clinton administration\u00a0<\/span>intend<\/em>\u00a0to bring about the deaths of thousands of Sudanese children? No.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019m pretty sure the tens of thousands of Sudanese who died as a result of U.S. actions would be comforted by knowing that our intentions<\/em> were pure. Perhaps Harris is so convinced that his particular U.S.-centric worldview is correct that he hasn\u2019t taken the time to step outside of it and look at it from others\u2019 perspective. These Sudanese might be able to see that, within the confines of a specific U.S.-centric worldview, the U.S.\u2019s actions were ethical, but that doesn\u2019t mean they would share Harris\u2019s conviction that this worldview is the correct one.<\/p>\n

Harris\u2019s\u00a0emphasis on intentions bothers me. Don\u2019t get me wrong, understanding intentions is important! But for Harris, intentions appear to matter more to<\/em> the ethicality of an act<\/em> than the harm that results from the act. My own ethical system is based more on whether one causes harm than on what one\u2019s intentions are.<\/p>\n

I mean gracious, if you look at the writings of antebellum Southerners,the belief that slavery was actually good for<\/em> blacks was very common. They believed that blacks were naturally inferior and more barbaric, and that without the tutelage of white masters they would exist in a state of lazy and immoral heathenism. They argued that blacks were better off<\/em> in slavery in the U.S. than they would be had they remained in Africa. Are their intentions really \u201c(nearly) the whole story\u201d?<\/p>\n

Perhaps I feel most strongly about this question in part because of my interest in children\u2019s rights. It is very common for a child abuser to argue that beating a child is in that child\u2019s best interests\u2014whether or not the abuse is based on religion. In some cases the parent wants to save the child from hell, and in other cases the parent simply wants to \u201cmake a man\u201d of a child, etc. Are we to see child abuse as ethical because the intentions are good?<\/p>\n

And honestly, who doesn\u2019t<\/em> have good intentions? Everyone is justified in their own eyes.\u00a0If we use intentions to gauge whether or not an act is ethical, we will quickly find ourselves in very deep water. The harm an action causes has to\u00a0matter more to us than the intentions of the one causing the harm, regardless of\u00a0the worldview within which they are operating.<\/p>\n

* A reader named Cynthia emailed me concerned by the assertion that Hitler had good intentions. She pointed out that Chomsky actually called Hitler\u2019s intentions \u201csincere\u201d rather than \u201cgood,\u201d which is an interesting point that I had missed. I think I overlooked\u00a0that because whether intentions are \u201csincere\u201d\u00a0seemed to me to be irrelevant to whether or not they are \u201cgood.\u201d But perhaps Chomsky is conflating the two? I am not sure.<\/p>\n

Cynthia also\u00a0gave me permission to post this excerpt from her email:<\/p>\n

Hitler\u2019s actual intentions are well documented.\u00a0 He intended to build an ever-expanding empire for the master Aryan race, to use \u201cinferior\u201d races as slaves, and to commit genocide against those he deemed subhuman.\u00a0 He created Hitler Youth specifically to create a youth that was brutal and cruel.\u00a0 He and his fellow Nazi ideologues even rejected the very notion of \u201cgood\u201d.\u00a0 They adopted parts of the Fascist ideology of Nietzsche, which sees the ubermentsch (\u201csuperman\u201d) as being beyond good and evil, and which also sees the very notion of values such as good and evil as tools of lesser beings.\u00a0 Hitler knew perfectly well that his program of genocide was considered wrong.\u00a0 That\u2019s why the Nazis went through the effort of constructing an elaborate ruse, the Terezin \u201cmodel\u201d concentration camp, where they showed the Red Cross that Jews were treated well and made propaganda films.\u00a0 After they served their purpose, most of the inmates were killed.<\/p>\n

You and I would agree that the actual harm done was horrific.\u00a0 To get personal, my great-aunt and my husband\u2019s great-grandparents were murdered.\u00a0 In our community, our families are considered to have been almost unaffected \u2013 many of our friends are children or grandchildren of survivors, and we grew up surrounded by survivors.<\/p>\n

What you need to understand is that for us, it could have been even worse.\u00a0 We are alive.\u00a0 The Nazis killed 1\/3 of the world\u2019s Jewish population \u2013 but they INTENDED to kill the other 2\/3 as well.\u00a0 The intentions make him even more evil and terrifying (especially because aspects of his ideology live on).\u00a0 You know how you grew up with a fear of Hell?\u00a0 Well, practically everyone I know grew up with that same fear, except that Hell was the Holocaust.\u00a0 Instead of scary stories and paintings, we had actual testimony from those who had seen gas chambers and cremetoria, we had news reels showing people turned into living skeletons and piles of dead bodies, and we even had visits where we could see the ashes and bones for ourselves.<\/p>\n

Imagine being in my shoes, and reading that someone\u2019s intention to brutally murder you and your entire family, to target the children and the elderly and mothers of young children first, to design an entire program to demonize anyone like you \u2013 is being described as being \u201carguably good\u201d.\u00a0 Imagine reading further comments describing how he was acting nobly by getting rid of the \u201cscourge\u201d of World Jewry.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>

Many thanks to Cynthia for her email.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And honestly, who doesn’t have good intentions? Everyone is justified in their own eyes. If we use intentions to gauge whether or not an act is ethical, we will quickly find ourselves in very deep water. The harm an action causes has to matter more to us than the intentions of the one causing the harm. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[513,449],"class_list":["post-25551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-atheism","tag-noam-chomsky","tag-sam-harris"],"yoast_head":"\nDo Intentions Matter? On Sam Harris and Noam Chomsky<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"And honestly, who doesn't have good intentions? Everyone is justified in their own eyes. If we use intentions to gauge whether or not an act is ethical, we will quickly find ourselves in very deep water. The harm an action causes has to matter more to us than the intentions of the one causing the harm.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/05\/do-intentions-matter-on-sam-harris-and-noam-chomsky.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Do Intentions Matter? On Sam Harris and Noam Chomsky\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"And honestly, who doesn't have good intentions? Everyone is justified in their own eyes. If we use intentions to gauge whether or not an act is ethical, we will quickly find ourselves in very deep water. The harm an action causes has to matter more to us than the intentions of the one causing the harm.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/05\/do-intentions-matter-on-sam-harris-and-noam-chomsky.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Love, Joy, Feminism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-05-13T13:49:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-06-09T16:53:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/05\/do-intentions-matter-on-sam-harris-and-noam-chomsky.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/05\/do-intentions-matter-on-sam-harris-and-noam-chomsky.html\",\"name\":\"Do Intentions Matter? On Sam Harris and Noam Chomsky\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-05-13T13:49:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-09T16:53:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2\"},\"description\":\"And honestly, who doesn't have good intentions? Everyone is justified in their own eyes. If we use intentions to gauge whether or not an act is ethical, we will quickly find ourselves in very deep water. The harm an action causes has to matter more to us than the intentions of the one causing the harm.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/05\/do-intentions-matter-on-sam-harris-and-noam-chomsky.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/05\/do-intentions-matter-on-sam-harris-and-noam-chomsky.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/05\/do-intentions-matter-on-sam-harris-and-noam-chomsky.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Do Intentions Matter? On Sam Harris and Noam Chomsky\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/\",\"name\":\"Love, Joy, Feminism\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2\",\"name\":\"Libby Anne\",\"description\":\"Libby Anne grew up in a large evangelical homeschool family highly involved in the Christian Right. College turned her world upside down, and she is today an atheist, a feminist, and a progressive. She blogs about leaving religion, her experience with the Christian Patriarchy and Quiverfull movements, the detrimental effects of the \\\"purity culture,\\\" the contradictions of conservative politics, and the importance of feminism.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/author\/libby\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Do Intentions Matter? On Sam Harris and Noam Chomsky","description":"And honestly, who doesn't have good intentions? Everyone is justified in their own eyes. If we use intentions to gauge whether or not an act is ethical, we will quickly find ourselves in very deep water. The harm an action causes has to matter more to us than the intentions of the one causing the harm.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/05\/do-intentions-matter-on-sam-harris-and-noam-chomsky.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Do Intentions Matter? On Sam Harris and Noam Chomsky","og_description":"And honestly, who doesn't have good intentions? Everyone is justified in their own eyes. If we use intentions to gauge whether or not an act is ethical, we will quickly find ourselves in very deep water. The harm an action causes has to matter more to us than the intentions of the one causing the harm.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/05\/do-intentions-matter-on-sam-harris-and-noam-chomsky.html","og_site_name":"Love, Joy, Feminism","article_published_time":"2015-05-13T13:49:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-06-09T16:53:02+00:00","author":"Libby Anne","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Libby Anne","Est. reading time":"9 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/05\/do-intentions-matter-on-sam-harris-and-noam-chomsky.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/05\/do-intentions-matter-on-sam-harris-and-noam-chomsky.html","name":"Do Intentions Matter? On Sam Harris and Noam Chomsky","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-05-13T13:49:19+00:00","dateModified":"2015-06-09T16:53:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2"},"description":"And honestly, who doesn't have good intentions? Everyone is justified in their own eyes. If we use intentions to gauge whether or not an act is ethical, we will quickly find ourselves in very deep water. The harm an action causes has to matter more to us than the intentions of the one causing the harm.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/05\/do-intentions-matter-on-sam-harris-and-noam-chomsky.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/05\/do-intentions-matter-on-sam-harris-and-noam-chomsky.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/05\/do-intentions-matter-on-sam-harris-and-noam-chomsky.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Do Intentions Matter? On Sam Harris and Noam Chomsky"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/","name":"Love, Joy, Feminism","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2","name":"Libby Anne","description":"Libby Anne grew up in a large evangelical homeschool family highly involved in the Christian Right. College turned her world upside down, and she is today an atheist, a feminist, and a progressive. She blogs about leaving religion, her experience with the Christian Patriarchy and Quiverfull movements, the detrimental effects of the \"purity culture,\" the contradictions of conservative politics, and the importance of feminism.","sameAs":["http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/author\/libby"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/845"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25551\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}