“All of this is to say that one should be very careful going against principles, rules, or duties. But there are, nonetheless, rare times in our lives when breaking the rules is the right thing to do.”

I sure am glad you clarified that since the real;ity on the ground in the legal system is that insurance companies and their henchmen lie all the time. They hide information so that we are powerless to defeat them since we do not have the evidence that the rules require them to provide for a fair playing field. No fair field exists when the rules are ignored, violated and not enforced by the Court system.

My immediate response to your question was also to conclude that outcomes matter. If a home invasion robber asks me if anyone else is in the house and I have hidden grandkids under the bed, am I going to lie? You betcha as the outcome is I want my grandkids to survive the sins of others.

The thing is the robber has already violated the rules of prinicipled living thereby justifying me to not tell him the whole truth just to live to see another day which is more just than telling him the truth. In the court system, the issue is not survival except that is how the insurance companies and other corporations- WHO ARE FAVORED- act, so it is ok for them to lie and hide data in their self justification and it is RUINING our justice system,

So yes outcomes matter but when you throw principles out the window, the outcomes for our society are not good. We need outcomes based on principles and virtues. That should be the thesis: a principled approach to good outcomes.

Justice is truth times fairness in my mind as a legal philosopher and legal practitioner and you don’t get to justice if the rules are not followed. Just outcomes depend on application of the rules that are based on principles, like fairness, transparency, truth.

The only exception that allows putting aside principle is when the other is not principled and life depends on not letting his unprincipled acts win over your life. Exxon deserves no breaks for their unprincipled hiding of climate change evidence and climate change is important enough to deal with to throw the oil and coal industry some curves that might look unfair, but which are not.

So it is principled to protect life from the fuckers who break the rules. Again application of principles win for the best outcome. So I thank you for clarifying my thinking and I hope you clarify yours as well- it is principles that matter to get to the right outcome- even the principle to set the principles aside (ie honesty in the moment)when the other clearly has set principles aside for an outcome that favors them over you or your people.