Doctors reinterpreted their terrible actions as required for generally good ends

Evidence

This definition needs qualification, but the moves to qualify it are well understood. Briefly, we need to rule out certain harmful actions, such as unforeseeable accidents, as necessarily morally wrong. So we add to the definition a qualification: a notion of a wrongdoing actor as somehow intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly harming or causing pain to another individual. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3862 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The doctors found selection more stressful than morally worse acts — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3910; Necessity excuses renounced control but carelessness invites derision — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 182; Harmful actors deflect blame by comparing their acts to worse ones — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 837 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Wrongdoing requires intentional, knowing, or reckless harm #complicates (0.78) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3862