“When we have to deal with a man who has done much harm, we must assume that he wanted to do something good but failed.”Friedrich Nietzsche · Știința voioasă · 1882 · Aforismul 71
The evil we see is often a failed good, not pure malice.
Nietzsche offers a working hypothesis, not an excuse: before judging, assume that harm is usually a good aim pursued badly. The mechanism is psychological — people rarely act from pure malice; they chase something they value and choose the wrong means. A manager who humiliates an employee in public believes he is motivating him. The assumption does not excuse the act, but it opens the way to genuinely understanding the person who failed.
Why it matters It helps anyone managing conflict, from parents to managers, to look for the motive behind harmful behavior before condemning it.