Xanga Featured Question: What makes someone a ‘good person’?
Xanga Featured Question: What makes someone a ‘good person’?
Doing ethics in philosophy at school equips me well to take a stab at this one. It seems to me that I could go ahead and list a set of characteristics that I would say make a good person. I could list selflessness, a desire to learn and understand, rationality and open-mindedness. But what am I doing here? I’m merely answering the question ‘what makes you think to yourself “that’s a good person”?’ and I’m not tackling the question posed. Can any of us answer it? Can we even attempt to make such a huge judgement? I don’t think so – we’re simply not qualified enough. Only an immortal who had lived forever (e.g. god, if there is one) would even begin to be in a position to answer this question. Even then, maybe they also need to have had the experience of not living forever in order to be unbiased and as close to objective as possible. It seems impossible. Of course, my global scepticism supports this view.
So why then would so many people jump to answer this one with ‘kindness, caring for others, passion for a good cause’ etc.? I’m not sure. But the view that I’m in tune with at the moment is Matt’s idea (philosophy friend) that in fact morality is merely an innate conservatism. Moral laws keep things the same, and humans are creatures of habit who don’t like change. We’re brought up with rules and regulations that ensure that people are comfortable and can predict what each other do. Heck, what sparks most discontent in our society – difference and chance. I’m not average. I’m bullied at school. Is this because I’ve done something wrong? No, it’s because I choose to do what I want to do for various reasons and this is out of the ordinary. The obvious response here is murder – surely this is not about conservatism? Yes it is – conserving life. That’s a bit weak but I hope you can see where my argument is coming from.
So when we express emotions all we’re doing is in some way expressing what we feel most comfortable with, and also what strikes up ‘pleasant emotions’ within us, most of the time. We’re expressing our approval of the behaviour of others because it seems right to us and deep down, whatever this actually is, it seems to me to be based on a desire to keep things predictable and to avoid a fear of the unknown. To return to the question then, I can offer a raft of arguments why I think that the properties I listed at the beginning make a good person. But all I’m actually doing really is expressing feelings I receive when I consider their behaviour, and I want others to do the same thing. Some form of emotivism, I think. But as I say, I’m far from any conclusions on this one and will continue to consider and discuss it.
This was written whilst full of cold and tired so forgive any ambiguities.