Thesis: a good person is someone who actively creates value for others, out of the kindness of their heart. To set the context for this essay, a good action is to create value for others, and a good will is a kind intention. With this definition of good, we can say that “good” is what keeps society running. It is the blood and the heart that pumps it, it is money circulating in a healthy economy. When referring to humans, this definition of good is most meaningful and accurate, because 1. it can be applied to every human and 2. when you take it away, the world as we know it, collapses. The body dies, the society perishes. When people do not create value for others, there is a broader consequence. There are many different views of good, …show more content…
Do not expect a person to climb into your noodle to be impressed by your superfluous compassion. Instead, expect to have your every movement scrutinized by the people around you this very moment, as well as dissected by strangers (or aliens) in the distant future. Goodness is judged by history, or your impact, the mark you leave on the people, whatever size it may be. After all, like Sartre wrote, “a man is nothing else than a series of undertakings.” That being said, Kant’s “Good Will” is not unimportant. This is what makes the “sum, the organization, the ensemble of the relationships which make up these undertakings” critical to your goodness. Goodness can only be judged by a person, and from the relationships of your actions, your goodness critic can glean an insight into your motive. Given enough observation, anyone can tell you have a kind heart, or see right through your …show more content…
If you take zero action, your goodness score is zero. Zero times any infinitely large talent coefficient is zero. Zero cannot be positive, or negative. Zero is nothing. Now say you take a lot of action, and radically change the world. But have you changed it with a good or hateful heart? Depending on your answer, you may have scored to be a saint or the devil. Both action and sentiment must come together to make you
Bailey, T. (2010). Analysing the Good Will: Kant's Argument in the First Section of the Groundwork. British Journal For The History Of Philosophy, 18(4), 635-662. doi:10.1080/09608788.2010.502349 Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=9f0eb1ba-edf5-4b35-a15a-37588479a493%40sessionmgr112&vid=10&hid=115
still do great things even if you have been evil or immoral in your life.
Nothing in the world – indeed even beyond the world – can possibly be conceived which could be called good with qualification except good will (Kant 61).
Absolute goodness is perfection, which mankind could strive for without every achieving so. Depriving goodness beyond existence would be considered evil characteristics because it’s lacking fullness
In deciding whether or not a person is good, all of their characteristics must be looked at.
Kant conveys his beliefs by introducing the idea of a moral law. He believes there is a moral law that is to be upheld by everyone. The moral law is an unconditional principle that defines the standards of right action. Good will is a form of moral law because it’s a genuine attitude behind an action. Anything that is naturally good is morally good which sums up to be good will. Actions of good will do the right thing for the reason of simply being the right thing to do. There is no qualification, benefactor or incentive its good will and no personal gain, inclination, or happine...
However, Kant’s moral philosophy view is not without its problems. This is because the good will is not always inherently good without being qualified despite what Kant may claim. This can be seen as even if a person is an altruist who always tries to do their duty they can end up generating misery instead of pleasure. For example, say that you are going out and stealing from the rich to give to those less fortunate. In doing this you are only trying to help people and follow a duty to aid your fellow man, and it does not matter what consequences you may face due to your actions as you are supposed to have a good will even if it will get you into trouble. For a more extreme example say you are hiding Jews in your attic in Nazi Germany. The
When people realize that good and evil are just points of view that are placed on other people and actions, it is possible to transcend these superficial roles. Since it is people who create the meaning of evil, it cannot be said that people are evil, or are born evil, because not only is that a perspective that is assumed onto others, which will change with different cultures, societies, and eras, but the very same acts may appear to be both good and evil, depending on the perspective in which the acts are seen. Ultimately, it is the individual’s responsibility to decide for himself the effects of his actions on himself and others.
Doing good deeds makes one a good person, right? One definition of a good person is someone who does good acts but doesn’t truly mean and feel it in their heart. Lane A. Dean Jr. is an example of
The thought of good people brings warmth and joy to my heart. On a daily basis I would like to think that most, if not all, of the people we surround ourselves with strive to be good people. My initial thought that came to mind before I began to read David Foster Wallace’s “Good People” was that this would be a story about all the people around each other doing good for one another bringing happiness to me as a reader. The story took a huge turn as it did not talk about the good of the people, but the expectations and judgments we hold for others to be good people. My eyes and my heart opened up, as Wallace’s story unfolded, in which he used a controversial issue to make a point by tugging at the emotions of the reader. I now know that this story was not to make a statement about a very controversial issue, but to make us realize that being a good person doesn’t always mean we have to follow by the expectations or rules that have been set for us, but by being who we truly are and having an understanding for one another.
In attempt to integrate an individual’s goodness as a Christian versus Erikson’s view of goodness in people, I will begin with how God says there are none good besides Himself. This is because of our fallen state as humans and because we are sinful, there is always going to be a ratio of good to bad within us. The bad will always outweigh the good because we are sinful, prideful, and fallen. However, this is not to say that we cannot have goodness in us or be “good” Christians. It just means that we have to recognize that we cannot be innately good - only God can. This correlates to Erikson’s view of basic strengths and weaknesses because he argued that they exist in people as ratios (Evans, 1967). For example, you cannot achieve industry
Kantianism, which is derived from the moral philosopher Immanuel Kant, states that the only thing that is truly good is a good will. A good will is one that acts because of its duty. Kantians asks two main questions. The first question is, “What is unconditionally good?”. When answering this question, Kantians weed out all other possible answers. In his book, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant states that, “Understanding, wit, judgment1 and the like, whatever such talents of mind' may be called, or courage, resolution, and perseverance in one's plans, as qualities of temperament, are undoubtedly good and desirable for many purposes, I but they can also be extremely evil and harmful if the will which is to make use of these gifts of nature, and whose distinctive constitution" is therefore called character, is not good (Kant, p 7).” For example, power is not unconditionally good because you can abuse it. Also, money cannot be unconditionally good because you can buy bad things with it. Happiness is not unconditionally good because bad things can make you happy. The only thing that is unconditionally good is a good ...
In Immanuel Kant’s work, “Groundwork for the metaphysics of morals” he discusses what is good will. He believes that a good will is in itself already good and acts in accordance with goodness. So the traits that are normally associated with a good will like intelligence and courage are not be valued as good but rather are only temperaments that can be used in both good and bad aspects. A good will is not brought on by actions or is it meant to provide some sort of reward at the end of completion, but rather it is brought on only when a will desires to be good. To be in possession of a good will is to not have expect a certain result that reveals itself after completing a duty, but rather it is the thought in accordance to the law where the good will flourishes.
... an action is performed, it has a determined relevance for future actions and entities so we have to make sure that our actions are the right ones. That is to say, not just any action, is an ethical action. An ethical action requires Goodness. By performing an action which can be described as good, my individual good action is linked with all good actions. It has been defined by the notion of Goodness, and contributes to the definition of Goodness. We have, then, a reciprocal relation between the good for the individual and the common good grounded in Whiteheadian metaphysics.
The human being is seen as 2 dimensional which includes the body and soul. The soul consists of 3 parts: it is alive, reason/intellect, and lastly the decision maker also known as the will. In order to make a will a good will, we must function with reason but reason can become corrupted. Its job is to gather the information, connect the dots, and present the evidence to the will. Reason is only a helper in determining if a will is good. Qualities of the mind can be extremely harmful if the will is not good. To make it good, we must act from a sense of duty, which causes our actions to be good.