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
There are two basic kinds of ethical judgments. The first have to do with duty and obligation. For example: "Thou shalt not kill, lie, or steal." "You just keep your promises." These judgments often uphold minimal standards of onduct and (partly for that reason) assert or imply a moral ‘ought.’ The second kind of judgment focuses on human excellence and the nature of the good life. These judgments employ as their most general terms "happiness," "excellence," and perhaps "flourishing" (in addition to "the good life"). For example: "Happiness requires activity and not mere passive consumption." "The good life includes pleasure, friendship, intellectual development and physical health." I take these to be the two general types of ethical judgment, and all particular ethical judgments to be examples of these. The main contention of this paper is that we must carefully distinguish these two types of judgments, and not try to understand the one as a special case of the other.
In deciding whether or not a person is good, all of their characteristics must be looked at.
The principle of beneficence is concerned with a moral obligation to act for the benefits of others (Kennedy, 2004). Additionally, beneficence is the principle consisting of deeds such as mercy, kindness, and charity (Rich, 2008). There are other forms of beneficence including altruism, love, and humanity (Beauchamp & Childress, 2009). We use beneficence in order to cover beneficent actions more broadly, so that it includes all forms of action to benefit other persons (Beauchamp & Childress, 2009). Overall, beneficence implies that an individual takes action to do good by benefiting others and facilitating their well-being. Beneficence also requires that benefits are balanced against risks and costs (Kennedy, 2004). In order for a person to “do good”, they must also consider the values of individual in question (Bjarnason & LaSala, 2011).
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...
still do great things even if you have been evil or immoral in your life.
For example John Proctor he portrayed evil by committing adultery with Abigail and while all the hysteria was going on he wasn’t really attempting to do much until the end, when it directly affected him. However John is good because he wanted to protect his wife, and friends and he did what he felt was right. Another character that portrayed both good and evil is Reverend Hale. In the beginning in a way he provoked the confession out of Tituba, and helped create the hysteria. However, he was good because in the ending he realized the truth and tried to save the lives of innocent people by begging them to confess.
Kant explores the good will which acts for duty’s sake, or the sole unconditional good. A good will is not good because of any proposed end, or because of what it accomplishes, but it is only good in itself. The good will that is good without qualification contains both the means and the end in itself.
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.
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).
Kant believes the morality of our action doesn’t depend on the consequences because consequences are beyond our control. According to him, what determines the morality of action is the motivation behind the action and that is called will. Kant states that there is anything “which can be regarded as good without qualification, except a good will” (7). He suggests other traits such as courage, intelligence, and fortunes and possessions such as fortune, health, and power are not good in themselves because such traits and possessions can be used to accomplish bad things if the actions are not done out of goodwill. Thus, the good motivation is the only good that is good in itself. It is the greatest good that we can have. Then, the question that arises is how do we produce good will? Kant claims that our pure reason
Overall, Kantian ethics are based on duty, and the duty is to perform universally good actions. For this form of ethics, good will is defined as the good. Kant highlights that “a good will is good…[because]
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 ...
... 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.
...ly or mentally, a conscious effort to injure others that is no obvious benefit to the human race is not good. I believe that people try to do good most of the time. For example, the person had a motorcycle accident. He hated by a car on the local road and stocked under the car. The car was flamed. This news is from the yesterday of FOX25. When I saw many people stopped and together to get the car off the person and being without thinking about the flames, I am so grateful. The man was saved and no life injury and the story have a good ending. Accordingly, people are innately good. I think I am actually a good person. I like to open doors, push in chairs, listen to people, and help little kids. No meter outside the world how changed it doesn’t influence my good personality at all. I agree Carl Rogers’s theory people should be capable of becoming conscious good.