Good

[DN 420]

1. What does 'good' mean, relative to an ethical perspective?
2. What does it mean to be a good person?
3. Do you think you're a good person?
4. Does it even exist?

I actually wanted to sway discussion away from Plato and other philosophers. It's too theoretical. The only people who actually apply those kind of principles are fedora-wearing neckbeards.

I want to know what actual people think of being good.

 

[Observatory]

"Good", to me, means to do something that brings out the most beneficial outcome for all involved parties.
For instance, being a "good person" would include helping others or showing understanding for their issues and problems whilst trying to find a good solution that all can agree too (in case of a fight for example). I think I treasure positive emotional values over the physical ones however. Like, giving someone a present is far lower in its "goodness" measures, than for instance, emotional support. The only physical exception is purchasing things for someone in need of such thing, such as food or clothes or other, practical and necessary objects.

Am I a good person? Naw. I have enough negative traits and anger issues to consider myself as just an average person. I think, there are not really any "good" people as in perfect "goodness". Even those who are selfless, while technically good to others, often times forget themselves and treat themselves badly. This isn't always the case, but I have seen it happen.
I'd rather put myself as an "kinda okay" person, because while I do strive to be nice and polite and well, "good" to people, my flaws just sometimes overweigh that.

So, question number four comes down to this: "Good" exists, but in its purest form it's probably just a theoretical idea. Everyone who tries to be good has something about it in them however.

I also want to mention there is "doing what you think is good" showing that there is another part to this entirely. Everyone views what is good in a different way. Some would say that , for example, it's good to reduce how much meat we eat and thus make cow farms less, in order to fight against the way cows are held and support a healthier lifestyle, while others think it's good to support cow farms for jobs, meat and of course tasty hamburgers and say that you can eat beef and still be perfectly healthy.

 

[Strelok]

I know this seems like a waeasel anwser, but I'm going to have to quote stewart, who was admittadly talking about what qualified as pornography.

"I can't strictly define it, but its apparent when I see it"

II feel morals and "good" is much the same way. Its something that needs to be self evident, not determined in a vaccume.

 

[AnOminous]

1. What does 'good' mean, relative to an ethical perspective?
2. What does it mean to be a good person?
3. Do you think you're a good person?

The good is that which allows the greatest degree of free choice (preference satisfaction) to the greatest number of people.

This is clearly purely a personal opinion, and tracks preference utilitarianism.

It is entirely possible to arrive at good actions and thought from other perspectives, though, including deontological ethics, or even without any philosophical outlook on it. Even people with limited mentality can strive toward the good, and to the extent people are good, this may even be instinctual on some level.

Does it even exist?

It only exists in relation to humans (or sapient beings in general should those other than humans exist).

 

[autisticdragonkin]

I actually wanted to sway discussion away from Plato and other philosophers. It's too theoretical.

You mean too practical. Very few philosophers do much work on the "good" in the abstract and it is very unlikely that anyone outside of the philosophical community will know who these philosophers are. I would say that good is whatever maximizes utility for the agent making the decision and can only be defined on the margins so the good is the decision which gains the highest increase in the speed at which the output of the value function increases as t approaches infinity. The value function can be derived from reproduction. This is distinct from a mere analysis of moral language which can almost always be seen as a complex type of lying in reference to a purely fictitious concept known as morality

What does it mean to be a good person?

In practice this means things like telling the truth, caring about family members, being loyal, being productive, helping others even at the expense of one's short term interests, abstaining from drug use, and satisfying one's sexual partner among other things.

Do you think you're a good person?

Since I have a firm plan to become good in the future under the system I explained above I am behaving in a good manner. I think though that the notion of a "good person" is fundamentally flawed and should be replaced by a person who acts in a good manner

Does it even exist?

It does exist and applies to all organisms including viruses and prions, but most organisms (and most humans for that matter) cannot alter their inputs so in practice value only exists for a small elite of humans who are highly educated and capable of long term planning

It only exists in relation to humans (or sapient beings in general should those other than humans exist).

What does that mean?

 

[AnOminous]

What does that mean?

"Man is the measure of all things."