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Ethics

Is it always the case that "two wrongs don't make a right"?
Accepted:
November 4, 2005

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Joseph G. Moore
November 4, 2005 (changed November 4, 2005) Permalink

If two wrongs don't make a right, try a third.

I think Nixon said that. But he wasn't the most reliable ethicist, and I can't think of a sitauation in which two wrongs would make a right. A just punishment might seem to come close, but doesn't really: the score may be settled when you've served your time, but your original crime isn't thereby made right (even though it's forgiven); and the sentence you served wasn't a second wrong anyway.

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