What makes a "good person"?

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Schillaci

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Or specifically, what makes you a good person?
As I get older, I have noticed that it is becoming more common to complain about the state of the world. Drugs, famine, corruption, greed, violence, homelessness, poverty, global warming, all problems which affect the world.
So I want to know, do you consider yourself to be a good person, because you abstain from drugs, criminal activities, are not violent and other things which are associated with "evil". Do you judge yourself by the evildoings of others, by default, insisting that absense of "evil" automatically equals good.
There is a famous quote which circulates the internet, you've all read it. "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing".

How are you a good person?
 
I think merely refraining from doing bad doesn't make one good. One must constantly seek to do good: work, share, encourage, etc. It's hard to be good.

Cynicism and fatalism is kind of my state of mind more often than not...try to work against that...

I've heard it said that wallowing in unhappiness is immoral. That it should be one's goal to seek happiness for yourself and others.
 
I would say that i'm far from what constitutes an Evil Person though I cannot in good conscience say I am a good person.

What makes a good person good?
Nothing, there is no such thing in the definition set out because everyone has some flaw that is not a good thing which instantly negates the goodness of said person.
 
Bored of the Dead said:
I would say that i'm far from what constitutes an Evil Person though I cannot in good conscience say I am a good person.
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You liar! You told me you were a badboy. Baddy bad bad bad. Bad to the bone. So bad you had your very own badd-y chromosome!

Bored of the Dead said:
What makes a good person good?
Nothing, there is no such thing in the definition set out because everyone has some flaw that is not a good thing which instantly negates the goodness of said person.
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Then "goodness" is just subject to the viewer. When we ourselves are the viewer and we don't see ourselves as being good, we must either be; doing something we think is wrong, nothing we think is right, or we just don't care.
 
So if we don't care, does that means we're evil?

Sometimes I think I'm all evil... sometimes I think I'm kinda good... depends which one of the me is being in control :silly:

what about we do something we think is good, like to help someone else... and it turns out to be a catastrophe... like really bad... does that mean we're bad even though we wanted to do good or does it mean we were pushed into doing that thing by our desire to be recognize as someone "nice" who helps and we didn't take into consideration the risks of a failure and opinion of the other person?

my philosophy teacher used to say no one do good for the others, we do good stuff for other people to see us as a good person, or for our own conscience... now it's rather sad but I think it's often true... even though most of us won't admit it. What do you think?
 
Frenchy Faith said:
So if we don't care, does that means we're evil?

Sometimes I think I'm all evil... sometimes I think I'm kinda good... depends which one of the me is being in control :silly:

what about we do something we think is good, like to help someone else... and it turns out to be a catastrophe... like really bad... does that mean we're bad even though we wanted to do good or does it mean we were pushed into doing that thing by our desire to be recognize as someone "nice" who helps and we didn't take into consideration the risks of a failure and opinion of the other person?
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:looking: I do not know of selfless acts, I know only of selfish. I would think that sacrifice comes with a certain amount of denial.
Frenchy Faith said:
my philosophy teacher used to say no one do good for the others, we do good stuff for other people to see us as a good person, or for our own conscience... now it's rather sad but I think it's often true... even though most of us won't admit it. What do you think?
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I think when I say that that people accuse me of being sad, miserable and having a horrible view of life and people.

I personally think my viewpoint is honest, though if someone can show me that it is flawed, then by all means.
 
what makes someone good...great question. I suppose it is the subjective view of others based on current societal standards, just like evil.
Now I am typically annoyingly positive and sweet, but I wouldn't call me good. I might call my actions good. but me. human. changeable. I suppose the bottom line of this question, is why do you care if you are called good or evil? what would it mean to you to be called a good person? does that make you a boring person, does it make you a worthy person? And conversely to be evil, does that make you more interesting? dangerous? I think the distinction, on the whole, is stupid. i dunno.
 
You believe in God, don't you. I would have thought a theist would believe there are set rules, not constructed by a societal perception but one from above.

It would appear there are rules in our world, you can argue that we create the rules to create order and to understand life, it just so happens these rules always work. Starve me of oxygen and I will cease breathing. Can there not be a set rules for morality?

I live, I breathe, I think... I want to be good because of the overriding force of..other people?

You know sometimes words can have two meanings, sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven. And she's buying a stairway to heaven.
 
I think we are human and that means we can not be pure 100% from start to finish. But, we can try our best to be. The 7 deadly sins we are all weak to at least once in our lives. I think 100% (good)pure is something that can be saught after but not obtained.
When we call people good that is our opinion of them and as it is an opinion is it neither right nor wrong. However, you can never know someone totally (thought and feelings).
I believe in a god force, not 1 god that looks like man or animal.:looking:
 
I'm not evil....I'm nicely nasty! :hehe: But yeah, I agree with Foi. We're humans, its somewhere in our genetic makeup that we can't be completely perfect, we have at least one flaw.
 
I sin.. doesnt make me a bad person... i am nice... always donating with charities... environment .. animals... u know.. basic things.. im not selfish... well at least i try not to be i put others before me... but always put in enought time for myself... i give more than i take... does that make me good? i dont go to church, i am not into all that religious stuff
 
Well. I'm not a bad person, I hope. But I definitely think of me before I think of other people. I tend to be very self centered, I am kind of shy and I spend a lot of time with me and people who are alike me. That doesn't mean I don't care about other people. I love my friends and would do basically anything for them. Same with family. I don't give money to charity 'cause I'm a student living on loans and can barely pay rent and food and clothes (I survive of course but yeah). I don't help old people on the metro. I don't comfort random people who seem sad. I don't like animals. I rant.

I rant. Sorry.
 
the strongest human instict is survival. that makes everyone equally selfish. no matter how you go about it, its all for the same reason. i dont think, in that aspect, theres a line between 'good' and 'bad' because it all boils down to the same thing.
 
If you watch Friends, everyones selfish. Theres no such thing as a selfless act 😛

But in keeping with the thread, I am far from a good person. Especially after a couple weeks ago. We were out and we tried to help someone we thought needed it. And because of that, one of our friends nearly got fired. Because he was trying to help. So I dont bother.
 
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