What defines a good person?

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22 Jul 2013, 7:12 am

What I think:
*Being a good person means having good intentions.
*Some people may seem evil, but actually have good intentions--they just don't know any better. The only people who are actually evil are sadists.

Giftorcurse
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22 Jul 2013, 7:19 am

What makes a good person?

A good PR guy.

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GoonSquad
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22 Jul 2013, 7:25 am

Quote:

Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.

~Marcus Aurelius

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Giftorcurse
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22 Jul 2013, 8:07 am

GoonSquad wrote:

Quote:

Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.

~Marcus Aurelius

Quoted for truth.

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Kiki1256
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22 Jul 2013, 11:10 am

GoonSquad wrote:

Quote:

Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.

~Marcus Aurelius

How can you be a good person if you don't know what a good person is?

AceOfSpades
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22 Jul 2013, 11:43 am

To me, the difference between a good person an a self-righteous a**hole is that a good person doesn't use good intentions as a thin veil for bigotry and the unwillingness to challenge his/her own beliefs.

Bitoku
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22 Jul 2013, 12:41 pm

Kiki1256 wrote:

I agree. you obviously hold a virtue ethics theory of ethics (see my post here for the different types). The trick is defining what constitutes good or virtuous intentions/character.

0bey1sh1n0b1
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22 Jul 2013, 1:38 pm

Kiki1256 wrote:

GoonSquad wrote:

Quote:

Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.

~Marcus Aurelius

How can you be a good person if you don't know what a good person is?

No one person is all evil nor all good. That said a "Good Person" is a matter of personal perception. Fidel Castro was a "Good Person" to some and an enemy of many. There is no universal standard that says THIS is what a "Good Person" should be like.

Last edited by 0bey1sh1n0b1 on 22 Jul 2013, 1:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

0bey1sh1n0b1
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22 Jul 2013, 1:40 pm

GoonSquad wrote:

Quote:

Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.

~Marcus Aurelius

Good quote! Very good quote!

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22 Jul 2013, 1:40 pm

Kiki1256 wrote:

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

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GoonSquad
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22 Jul 2013, 1:51 pm

Kiki1256 wrote:

GoonSquad wrote:

Quote:

Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.

~Marcus Aurelius

How can you be a good person if you don't know what a good person is?

Well, I think Marcus would say that if you’re rational and honest with yourself, you probably have a pretty good innate sense of right and wrong.

I think, in his quote, he’s trying to remind himself (and us) that it really is not that hard to tell good from evil. Talk is cheap and actions are the only things that matter.

For Marcus, a good man is one whose only motive is virtue.

Justice + Moderation + Courage + Wisdom = Virtue

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0bey1sh1n0b1
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22 Jul 2013, 2:03 pm

GoonSquad wrote:

Kiki1256 wrote:

GoonSquad wrote:

Quote:

Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.

~Marcus Aurelius

How can you be a good person if you don't know what a good person is?

Well, I think Marcus would say that if you’re rational and honest with yourself, you probably have a pretty good innate sense of right and wrong.

I think, in his quote, he’s trying to remind us that it really is not that hard to tell good from evil. Talk is cheap and actions are the only things that matter.

For Marcus, a good man is one whose only motive is virtue.

Justice + Moderation + Courage + Wisdom = Virtue

Your statement is along the lines of "Follow your heart and not your mind" scenarios. I do use "Good Person" in quotes because there are many bad people who masquerade as "Good People". Virtue is in us all but man is blind to it by worldly objects. Sometime mankind needs to invest in the energy to step back from the world and find what is right within himself. People are so caught up with life that we forget things that matter the most.

Forgot to mention that my point in all this and how my statement differs from GoonSquad is that anyone can be a "Good Person" but only those who are right by God or that of Divine is a Righteous Person. You should strive for Righteousness in your path to being a good person. Only you can find those answers no one can give them to you.

Last edited by 0bey1sh1n0b1 on 22 Jul 2013, 4:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

GoonSquad
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22 Jul 2013, 2:15 pm

0bey1sh1n0b1 wrote:

GoonSquad wrote:

Kiki1256 wrote:

GoonSquad wrote:

Quote:

Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.

~Marcus Aurelius

How can you be a good person if you don't know what a good person is?

Well, I think Marcus would say that if you’re rational and honest with yourself, you probably have a pretty good innate sense of right and wrong.

I think, in his quote, he’s trying to remind us that it really is not that hard to tell good from evil. Talk is cheap and actions are the only things that matter.

For Marcus, a good man is one whose only motive is virtue.

Justice + Moderation + Courage + Wisdom = Virtue

Your statement is along the lines of "Follow your heart and not your mind" scenarios. I do use "Good Person" in quotes because there are many bad people who masquerade as "Good People". Virtue is in us all but man is blind to it by worldly objects. Sometime mankind needs to invest in the energy to step back from the world and find what is right within himself. People are so caught up with life that we forget things that matter the most.

No.

A sage IDENTIFIES good by the use of REASON and with the MEASURES of what is JUST, MODERATE, WISE, and COURAGEOUS.

Certainly, how someone defines what is just, moderate, wise, and courageous can be questioned... :wink:

PS
Stoics, like Marcus would say that the key to being good lies in being a creature of reason. Stoics believe that all men have an innate sense of reason.

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0bey1sh1n0b1
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22 Jul 2013, 4:25 pm

GoonSquad wrote:

0bey1sh1n0b1 wrote:

GoonSquad wrote:

Kiki1256 wrote:

GoonSquad wrote:

Quote:

Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.

~Marcus Aurelius

How can you be a good person if you don't know what a good person is?

Well, I think Marcus would say that if you’re rational and honest with yourself, you probably have a pretty good innate sense of right and wrong.

I think, in his quote, he’s trying to remind us that it really is not that hard to tell good from evil. Talk is cheap and actions are the only things that matter.

For Marcus, a good man is one whose only motive is virtue.

Justice + Moderation + Courage + Wisdom = Virtue

PS
Stoics, like Marcus would say that the key to being good lies in being a creature of reason. Stoics believe that all men have an innate sense of reason.

Let me pick your mind for a second and ask if men have an innate sense of reason then why can't a sociopath or psychopath be reasoned with? Does that not make them men?

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22 Jul 2013, 4:30 pm

I would not know,that could depend on so many things.What is "good"?

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GoonSquad
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22 Jul 2013, 4:40 pm

0bey1sh1n0b1 wrote:

Let me pick your mind for a second and ask if men have an innate sense of reason then why can't a sociopath or psychopath be reasoned with? Does that not make them men?

Here's what Marcus says about difficult. irrational people:

Quote:

“Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness – all of them due to the offenders’ ignorance of what is good or evil. But for my part I have long perceived the nature of good and its nobility, the nature of evil and its meanness, and also the nature of the culprit himself, who is my brother (not in the physical sense, but as a fellow creature similarly endowed with reason and a share of the divine); therefore none of those things can injure me, for nobody can implicate me in what is degrading. Neither can I be angry with my brother or fall foul of him; for he and I were born to work together, like a man’s two hands, feet or eyelids, or the upper and lower rows of his teeth. To obstruct each other is against Nature’s law – and what is irritation or aversion but a form of obstruction.”

I think he would claim that men beyond reason must be misguided, ignorant, and/or living contrary to the nature of man.

In a way, that does actually make them closer to animals than men.

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