what's a good person?

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is there such a thing?

― Maria (Maria), Friday, 18 October 2002 18:55 (twenty-three years ago)

I can tell you what a Very Bad Mang is...

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 18 October 2002 18:58 (twenty-three years ago)

ha! does this count as thread hijacking on the first post?

― Maria (Maria), Friday, 18 October 2002 19:02 (twenty-three years ago)

i dont think there is such a thing as a 'truly' good person though many do try.
we all have faults etc and no matter how true our intentions may be, something will pop out somewhere exposing us.
i know of a few people whom i would term as 'good', inasmuch as they aspire to greater ideals, have high moral standards and do their best to behave accordingly.
but then again, who is to say what is good?

― donna (donna), Friday, 18 October 2002 19:13 (twenty-three years ago)

Someone who strives to do their best and admits their mistakes. But, of course those with good intentions can do terrible things by design or accident.

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 18 October 2002 20:13 (twenty-three years ago)

I think Jel summed this up almost all too well...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 18 October 2002 20:19 (twenty-three years ago)

if they have good intentions, surely they can't do terrible things by design?

― mark s (mark s), Friday, 18 October 2002 20:41 (twenty-three years ago)

"It will save millions of lives if I can just squeeze this puupy's brains into a pint jar..."

"Arf! Arf! *whine*"

― Okay, that was a little dark... (Dan Perry), Friday, 18 October 2002 20:46 (twenty-three years ago)

I think Jel may be a good person. I think I may be, somewhere, but I'm becoming more and more aware that some of the thoughtless things I do to other people could make them see me as a bit of a cunt.

Someone who thinks of others more than themselves? It might not make them the *right* person, but it qualifies as good, no? Or Ned Flanders. Not Ned Raggett, Christ no.

― Mark C (Mark C), Friday, 18 October 2002 21:53 (twenty-three years ago)

I think I'm a good person. I don't mean that in any absolute sense, obviously, but I think I do quite a few good things, I think my heart is almost always in the right place, I think my morals are good, I am generally kind and honest, and I have done very, very little to anyone's detriment, as far as I know. I think this is true of quite a lot of people, I should add - I'm not imagining myself to be anything special at all.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 18 October 2002 22:25 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm not a good person, but at least I'm good looking.

― Sean (Sean), Friday, 18 October 2002 22:40 (twenty-three years ago)

you got problems pal

― jack, Saturday, 19 October 2002 00:10 (twenty-three years ago)

a dead one

― unknown or illegal user (doorag), Saturday, 19 October 2002 00:24 (twenty-three years ago)

if they have good intentions, surely they can't do terrible things by design?

Of course they can - if they've got horribly wrong design sense!

― Kim (Kim), Saturday, 19 October 2002 02:16 (twenty-three years ago)

There's no such thing as a good person as everyone has some good and some bad to varying degrees. But you can figure out who YOU think is a good person or how good you think a person is by setting up a scale in your mind. At one end is the heading 'completely bad person' and at the other 'completely good person'. No-one will reach the poles. Then put a few key figures in your life on the scale. When you're wondering whether someone's good or bad, test where you think they'd go on the scale.

― super psychologist, Saturday, 19 October 2002 02:32 (twenty-three years ago)

Duh. Momus.

― david h (david h), Saturday, 19 October 2002 07:59 (twenty-three years ago)

hahaha

― di smith (lucylurex), Saturday, 19 October 2002 23:41 (twenty-three years ago)

A good person is: a person of moral excellence, upright.

No one is fully good, but some people are better than others. Like what mrsuper said I can decidewhere people are on the good spectrum, but I wouldn't be totally correct so I should treat them the same no matter how bad or good I think that person is.

Yeah, Momus makes some good music. He's pretty good.

― A Nairn (moretap), Sunday, 20 October 2002 04:00 (twenty-three years ago)

how does guilt over mistakes figure into goodness?

― Maria (Maria), Sunday, 20 October 2002 23:31 (twenty-three years ago)

i'm not sure how much good intentions factor in if you don't follow through with good actions.
be gooder = do gooder?

― minna (minna), Monday, 21 October 2002 00:38 (twenty-two years ago)

how does guilt over mistakes figure into goodness?

Acknowledging that one has done wrong; making amends for one's actions if possible; resolving to avoid that mistake in the future.

― j.lu (j.lu), Monday, 21 October 2002 00:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I do think there's a high correlation between a powerful -- even exaggerated -- capacity to feel guilt and being 'a good person'. For instance, I think Franz Kafka was a sort of saint. Living amongst Japanese, I find their very 'guilty' demeanour ('I am inexcusable!') to be full of civic virtue. Guilt is the reason this city of 20 million souls runs as smooth as silk.

I do think virtue has a lot to do with how you manage, in yourself, the dynamic between appetite and responsibility. Virtue is not a question of blocking out appetite and desire, but allowing them to regulate each other in a sort of 'balanced chaos'.

Milton said in 'Areopagitica' (a pamphlet against the puritan government's proposal to screen all books before allowing them to be published) that a citizen who is never allowed even the chance to be tempted cannot be virtuous.

― Momus (Momus), Monday, 21 October 2002 01:30 (twenty-two years ago)

(I am inexcusable: for 'desire' in para 2, please read 'guilt'.)

― Momus (Momus), Monday, 21 October 2002 01:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Of course, we can't talk about virtue without talking about... vice... uh-oh...

― Momus (Momus), Monday, 21 October 2002 01:52 (twenty-two years ago)

But also in contrast to that, wouldn't having guilt (even if guilt itself may show that a person is good by being full of civic duty and by having some understanding of bad they have done) have to originate from doing something bad in the first place? That is why I think no one can be fully good. If they have no guilt they are bad, and if they have guilt it had to come from something. (assuming the guilt is not too exaggerated)

― A Nairn (moretap), Monday, 21 October 2002 03:07 (twenty-two years ago)

I think evil here should be seen like A level scores. If, one year, nobody was evil, the examiners would have to skew the marking system so that tiny infractions were marked as 'evil' (liking a skate-graffitti stylemag, for instance, might suddenly qualify as vice). That way they'd get their normal distribution curve of 'good-evil' back.

― Momus (Momus), Monday, 21 October 2002 05:24 (twenty-two years ago)

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