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What is a good person?


RealityCheck

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This is a simple question.  What do you really consider a good person?

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I guess we'd first have to define 'good'.

 

So in this context I'd say good is encouraging the wellbeing of others, or discouraging the harm of others.

 

Therefore a person who is good is a person who has values of respect for persons, thinks of the wellbeing of others etc and acts accordingly.

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Someone who has made their share of errors, but has learned from them, or at least from most of 'em.
Casey

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11 hours ago, RealityCheck said:

This is a simple question.  What do you really consider a good person?

A person who hard wires their brain to think positive.

 

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So when does a person stop or start being good?  One can do good deeds their entire life and one indiscriminate action can have them labeled as evil forever.  Bad actions seem to carry far more weight than good ones so measuring this like a scale is meaningless.  What about the following scenario?  You are in the middle ages and your town is raided by some conquering army.  You might consider the invader that decided to spare your life as good in relation to his peers who have been killing without mercy.  Good is perhaps an irrelevant term, everyone is capable of beneficial or destructive actions given the right set of conditions.

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For me what makes a good or bad person is the motivation behind their actions.

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30 minutes ago, Callum said:

For me what makes a good or bad person is the motivation behind their actions.

 

Really?

 

I'm sure you have heard the phrase "The worst of things have been done with the best of intentions', or "The road to hell is paved with the best of intentions"?

 

Take Christians - when they tell a child to love Jesus or they will go to hell there is (generally) no malevolence in them - they love the child and think they are doing the best thing. But is it good? I would say categorically no! Even with the most pure intentions, telling a child they will go to hell if they don't love someone they can't see and can't meet is categorically bad. It's immoral.

 

Therefore what makes a person good or bad has to be more than their motivation.

 

@RealityCheck

 

I'm not sure good or bad can be described as a kind of time line continuum. A person could be generally evil their whole lives, but still do good things. Darth Vader is the classic bad guy, but at the end finds redemption and does one good thing - he saves his son from the emperor. I think good or bad is dependant upon actions not a time continuum. However over time with many actions we may say a person is good, or bad, depending on the totality of their actions.

 

Regarding your example: raiding villages these days is considered bad obviously. Probably even back in the day those who were raided considered it bad. Taking your raider who spared the life of a villager - well that is a good action. And if we could see his life at home we might find he's a good husband and father, but having been brought up in the times goes on raids. Despite this its possible taking into consideration the totality of his life that he's generally a good person. 

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22 hours ago, Burnedout said:

Good person-my definition...  

 

Someone who lives their lives, doesn't try to force me or others to do something I/we would not otherwise do or cause harm. 

 

I other words, someone that minds their own business.  :D

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Just now, Geezer said:

 

I other words, someone that minds their own business.  :D

 

There are times that minding ones own business is actually not good.

 

I don't think the pure libertarian idea can work because at some point the majority will decide that the actions of a minority are counter to the greater good, even if the individual actions of the minority are not considered direct harm.

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If we go by the logic of my foster patents & many other's today, a good person is someone who works hard, provides for his/her family, and is in a relationship or married.

 

Jesus! Hiter must of been a really good bloke.

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3 minutes ago, theanticrash said:

Jesus! Hiter must of been a really good bloke.

 

Huh.... Godwins law. Interesting....

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On 4/29/2018 at 6:14 PM, RealityCheck said:

This is a simple question.  What do you really consider a good person?

 

Someone who not only has empathy, but someone who acts on their empathy.

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I agree with LF. It all depends on how "good" is defined.

Generally, I find it useful to treat "good" as roughly meaning not causing harm, and increasing pleasure wherever possible. This is not a perfect view, but it is generally helpful.

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There's been some good points made so far, I'd have to say that I agree with @disillusioned in that good is not causing harm to other people, and I would add to that, having empathy for others, valuing human life, and doing our best to make life more pleasant for those around us. Other things that I would add which aren't necessarily good in themselves but which generally lead to the above are being open-minded, rational and questioning enough that we are willing to change or modify perspectives or viewpoints or admit when we are in error.

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When it comes to the basics (kindness, compassion, etc), everyone but the psychopathic outlier can agree.  If you begin to zoom out to a more broader definition, most people here wont.  Everyone believes that their ideology somehow promotes a greater good.  The Christian will try imparting their faith on others because it's the right course of action.  They are oblivious unintended consequences (as the stories in this forum show).  The philanthropist may campaign to send food or clothing to an impoverished nation.  This might cause a population explosion or destroy the local textile industry thus overall increasing human misery.  A coddling mother might support her lazy son after high school.  Though in her mind this is doing what's best for him, he will never get a harsh reality check to turn his life around.  What is good from on perspective is not from another.

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  • 3 months later...

Good and bad are but words. What is good in one’s eye is bad in another, and a vice a versa

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A good person considers the impact of whatever they do, maximizing good and, more importantly, minimizing harm. So, to be good, a person doesn't have to think about the maximum good in all of their actions (i.e. I can't give money to an organization that does good if there's another one doing more good for the same money), but they should try to do no harm, and if in a position where someone is going to get hurt, they should try to do things in a way to minimize the hurt or the number of people who will be hurt.

 

Simply put: A good person is one who attempts to live ethically.

 

(Honestly, most of the things we do in life are neutral.)

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  • 3 weeks later...
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On 4/29/2018 at 8:14 PM, RealityCheck said:

This is a simple question.  What do you really consider a good person?

Why should my opinion matter?

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