Benevolent Motive Does Not Cure Ethical Violation By Engineer A
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/79#Benevolent_Motive_Does_Not_Cure_Ethical_Violation_By_Engineer_A
Properties
Instance of
BenevolentMotiveDoesNotCureEthicalViolation
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#BenevolentMotiveDoesNotCureEthicalViolation
Applied to
Grandfathering ordinance concurrence motivated by staffing relief
Balancing with
Non-Subordination of Public Safety Obligation to Political or Budgetary Bargaining
Public Welfare Paramount
Concrete expression
Engineer A's genuine and praiseworthy concern about the inadequacy of the inspection program and the need for additional staff does not render ethically permissible the concurrence with a grandfathering ordinance that reduces building safety standards
Confidence
0.92
Importance
high
Interpretation
The ethical evaluation of Engineer A's concurrence must focus on the nature of the act — agreeing to weaken code enforcement — not on the admirable motivation of securing adequate staffing
Invoked by
Engineer A Building Inspection Program PE
Tension resolution
The principle confirms that Engineer A's violation is not excused by good intentions; the act of concurring with reduced safety standards is independently impermissible
Source Evidence
Source text
Engineer A agrees to concur with the chairman's proposal, and the chairman issues the order to permit the hiring of additional code officials for the building department, which Engineer A believes the city desperately needs.
Text references
Engineer A agrees to concur with the chairman's proposal, and the chairman issues the order to permit the hiring of additional code officials for the building department, which Engineer A believes the city desperately needs.
Engineer A has been concerned that as a result of a series of budget cutbacks and more rigid code enforcement requirements, the city has been unable to provide a sufficient number of qualified individuals
TTL
@prefix case79: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/79#> .
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix proeth: <http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#> .
@prefix prov: <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
case79:Benevolent_Motive_Does_Not_Cure_Ethical_Violation_By_Engineer_A a proeth:BenevolentMotiveDoesNotCureEthicalViolation,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Benevolent Motive Does Not Cure Ethical Violation By Engineer A" ;
proeth:appliedto "Grandfathering ordinance concurrence motivated by staffing relief" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Non-Subordination of Public Safety Obligation to Political or Budgetary Bargaining",
"Public Welfare Paramount" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "Engineer A's genuine and praiseworthy concern about the inadequacy of the inspection program and the need for additional staff does not render ethically permissible the concurrence with a grandfathering ordinance that reduces building safety standards" ;
proeth:confidence "0.92" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "79" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "facts" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-01T06:55:04.286355+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "79" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-01T06:55:04.286355+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "The ethical evaluation of Engineer A's concurrence must focus on the nature of the act — agreeing to weaken code enforcement — not on the admirable motivation of securing adequate staffing" ;
proeth:invokedby "Engineer A Building Inspection Program PE" ;
proeth:principleclass "Benevolent Motive Does Not Cure Ethical Violation" ;
proeth:sourcetext "Engineer A agrees to concur with the chairman's proposal, and the chairman issues the order to permit the hiring of additional code officials for the building department, which Engineer A believes the city desperately needs." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "The principle confirms that Engineer A's violation is not excused by good intentions; the act of concurring with reduced safety standards is independently impermissible" ;
proeth:textreferences "Engineer A agrees to concur with the chairman's proposal, and the chairman issues the order to permit the hiring of additional code officials for the building department, which Engineer A believes the city desperately needs.",
"Engineer A has been concerned that as a result of a series of budget cutbacks and more rigid code enforcement requirements, the city has been unable to provide a sufficient number of qualified individuals" ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 79 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-01T07:16:01.172274"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 79 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
79
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
facts
First discovered
2026-03-01T06:55:04.286355+00:00
First case
79
Generated
2026-03-01T06:55:04.286355+00:00
Attributed to
Case 79 Extraction
Generated
2026-03-01T07:16:01.172274
Generated by
ProEthica Case 79 Extraction