“The only way you can tell whether an intention would be good is by looking at whether performing the corresponding deed would be good, in which case the appeal to intentions isn 't really necessary.” This argument made by Peter Abelard is a bit confusing because, it begs the question, “how can a deed be named good or bad if the intention isn’t necessary? While attempting to answer this question, I became conflicted by many of my own moral and ethical ideals. Often I found myself questioning if the deeds that I did were the result of my wanting to please God, or from the wanting to fulfill my own selfish desires. Sometimes my deeds did not have best of intentions, but they would be merited as good deeds because of the ending result. Peter Abelard
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This explanation is a perfect way to defend Abelard’s claim because it renders the final act as a good deed, which is the actual crucifixion of Christ. According to the Stanford encyclopedia, Abelard concluded that the guard’s intentions in crucifying Christ were not considered a sin because, the guards ' act in accordance with a command that they were given. This makes the guards actions be based on ignorance, or negligence. If the guards intended on murdering Christ, but did not follow through with the act they would then be sinning. An objection to Abelard’s claim, could be made by asking why deeds are punished or rewarded but intentions aren’t? Abelard refutes this question with the example of the impoverished mother, who smothers her baby to death. The mother is going to be punished by a priest/judge on the necessity of social example. Even if it was not the mother’s intention to kill her baby, social she committed murder and will be punished by the result of her deeds and not her intentions (Eth 79-86). As a result, Abelard concludes that the ultimate judge of one’s actions is God and no mortal can truly judge the actions of another mortal. The mother’s actions are deemed as bad because, another mortal does not understand the intention of another mortal, the way in which God
This explanation is a perfect way to defend Abelard’s claim because it renders the final act as a good deed, which is the actual crucifixion of Christ. According to the Stanford encyclopedia, Abelard concluded that the guard’s intentions in crucifying Christ were not considered a sin because, the guards ' act in accordance with a command that they were given. This makes the guards actions be based on ignorance, or negligence. If the guards intended on murdering Christ, but did not follow through with the act they would then be sinning. An objection to Abelard’s claim, could be made by asking why deeds are punished or rewarded but intentions aren’t? Abelard refutes this question with the example of the impoverished mother, who smothers her baby to death. The mother is going to be punished by a priest/judge on the necessity of social example. Even if it was not the mother’s intention to kill her baby, social she committed murder and will be punished by the result of her deeds and not her intentions (Eth 79-86). As a result, Abelard concludes that the ultimate judge of one’s actions is God and no mortal can truly judge the actions of another mortal. The mother’s actions are deemed as bad because, another mortal does not understand the intention of another mortal, the way in which God