| DonLouigi |
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Actually, as a non-native speaker, the first time I encountered the term "For the Greater Good", was as the motto of Gellert Grindelvald, basically Wizard Hitler in the Harry Potter novels, which has led to me beeing extremely suspicious against anyone using it as a justification.
Now, assuming that such a scenario as Dastis or Tacticslion describe actually comes up, assuming that the person in question has proof beyond doubt, that there is no double play and assuming that he has used every means available to him looking for another option, including crying for help, than it might be the right choice to kill the innocent. Might. The reason I am so careful here is that I am genuinely unsure on the subject. I have thought about it quite a bit, but I do not think I have come up with a definitive answer. And don't even get me started on where I would think the line is, if Dastis' scenario would be deemed appropriate.
However, the "Not lose any sleep"-Part of it is an entirely different matter. Everyone who causes another one's death, be it through an accident or another chain of events, where he did everything as right as he could have, and who does not feel regret or remorse or the nagging question, if he chose rightly, would be deeply suspect to me, because it just seems too cold and unfeeling for me to call such a person "good". Your mileage may vary, but to me, one of the prime indicators of a good person is a very active and often very painful conscience.
And even if we say it was the right action to kill that innocent to save the world or whatever (under the 'assuming'-conditions above), it would most definitely not be a good one. I'd probably not affect someones alignment or divine powers for it (unless of course their deity or code specifically forbids the harming of innocents under any circumstances, in which case, I'm sorry to say, the character is shit out of luck), but I'd never call it a good act. Might seem like semantics, I find it important.
Having said all this, I have to agree that talk is cheap. To actually influence alignment as written on a character sheet, actions would have to be performed.