How do you define good and bad?

Question

I think good and bad are just opinions. What someone considers good, another considers bad. You're basically just playing the lesser of two evils when considering if something is good or bad.

For instance, a natural disaster can leave people devestated with with destruction and death. However, you can consider it population control, which is a good thing. So how do you actually measure if the event was good or bad?

Some of you may now be saying you can't measure an event as good or bad, but what about, say a person. Is a person considered good or bad based upon their actions? What if they do both good and bad actions? How do you compare the actions to decide if their good actions outweigh the bad, or vice versa? Again, I think its all based upon opinion.

Answer 1

Ah, a fan of subjective morals, eh? Cool. Me too. I don't buy into the concept of most absolutes. The goodness and badness of something or someone isn't a black and white issue.

It's not like someone says "he's good" and when you ask "well, what about......" they say "nope, doesn't matter, good, no consideration, just good".

We have to think about whether or not something is truly good. We weigh all the relevant information and come to a conclusion based on all the available evidence.

And you're right, my concept of "good" won't be the same as someone elses concept. We may both think long and hard about it and come to completely different conclusions.

Answer 2

Specific events and people will always defy classification as either good or bad, simply because we cannot possibly know everything about them and what exactly all of their ramification are. We can establish some general guidelines on what good and evil are, though.

Good is when someone acts unselfishly-- so that their actions provide maximum benefit to the human race as a whole. By benefit, I mean giving people joy, comfort, or the chance to exist longer and experience more of these (by saving lives).

Evil is when someone acts selfishly-- they will strive to get what they want, no matter what cost to the rest of humanity. They have no compassion or care for others, unless they are feigning it to get what they want.

If everyone acts evilly, eventually one person will stand on top, ruling the ashes that are left of the world-- evil brings about one person's desire. Often they find it is not all they thought it would be, but by then they have caused countless people to suffer (this applies on any scale, of course).

If everyone acts righteously, you would have a perfect utopia-- everyone would care for everybody, thus there would be no wars, no need for government (other than bodies to simply manage resources and plan public works), and no need for money.

No mortal is absolutely good or evil though, and so our world is an unstable mix (does that answer your question?). Civilization represents good people working together for mutual benefit, but the neccesity of military and the police demonstrates that people are selfish, and scheme solely for their own benefit.

Remember, the key to good and evil is in how selfish or unselfish you are. This is the foundation of almost all religions. Think of others as well as yourself, and the world will be a better place for all of us!

Answer 3

Well, there are universal laws, called morals. These morals are pretty much what keeps everyone from hurting innocent people and molesting dead babies. The people who disobey these laws are evil. The people who want the evil people to stop being evil have to do something about it. But they can't without disobeying the morals themselves, so they have to switch to a second set of morals. These morals are largely covered in Taira Shigesuke's Code of the Samurai. Anyway, lets think about the mathematical positives and negatives. They cancel each other out, so you take one from both out at the same time. Do this until you run out of either positive or negative, or both. The set that still has a part in the formula or whatever is the overall "side" that the equation is on. Apply this by substituting the words "positive" and "negative" with the words "good" and "bad." How to measure the absolute value (distance from zero) in units is another story entirely, but I think I have done enough to show you the error of your ways. If not, or if you have something to say, feel free to contact me at [e-mail].

Answer 4

there's just a creator of the universe.
everything else is open to conjecture.
jesus buddha vishnu jehovah and allah/mohammed are not god
they are demgogues.

if we closed their temples dedicated to our subservience, we would find our true selves as private intelligent beings. our wars would largely end and we could own our future. until we remove the shackles of religion and these demogogues from our planet we are as nothing but sheep (just like the 'bible' makes clear)

we will not advance or improve.

this is not conjecture and I am not a hater.
I am telling you that these "beings" are not your creator. they have no power over you.
you are free to deal with your existence as you choose. no one is going to judge after you die. wake up! your soul's evolution is a matter between you and the universe/creator not some demogogue that claims to have the keys to your salvation. this planet would benefit more from education and economic parity then any damn "there'll be a better tomorrow when I die" religion will ever cough up.

don't you feel a little stupid bowing to a wall in a city?? that wall is not going to do a thing for you. don't you feel stupid worshiping a "god" that says you should kill the disbelievers?? don't you feel stupid worshiping a god that claims only it will deliver your soul and all the other religions can go to hell? think!!! be your glorious human self!!

Answer 5

Good: Something that is beneficial to me or a significant amount of people and harms as few as possible. Something the feels pleasurable with consequences I am willing to accept. Something that is painful but brings consequences I desire.

Bad: Something that is detrimental to myself or a significant amount of people and helps just a few. Something that feels painful. Something that is pleasurable with consequences I am unwilling to accept.

EDIT: A natural disaster is neither good nor bad it just is. Natural disasters are effects caused by the processes that make life, as we know it, possible here on Earth. Choosing to live where you do puts you in danger of experiencing these effects. I live where there are tornados, if I do not want to risk experiencing one I can move to where there are other effects I AM willing to risk. The processes that make life possible are messy and dangerous, that is neither good nor bad it is just a fact.

People are neither good nor bad just constructive or destructive. As long as they are self destructive and don’t affect my life or the lives of others they are free to choose what they will. If their destructiveness starts infringing upon others then we, as a group, need to decide whether it is appropriate to intervene.

Answer 6

I love the question. I think you're wrong in your relativist view though.

Under any circumstance, is molesting a child is wrong?

If your answer is yes, then at least on some level you believe there is absolute right and absolute wrong. Once one believes in absolutes, the only logical progression is theism. If there is absolute right and wrong for all humanity, something had to establish these.

Answer 7

I use the Golden Rule from the point of view of society as a whole.

This hasn't failed me yet.

It's not opinion or relative.

Most things are arbitrary and are not "good" or "bad". They just are. Events may be fortunate or unfortunate, not good or bad. Those are moralistic terms that don't apply to random acts of nature.

Answer 8

thats a very debateable question. however it ends up narrowing down to how you were raised and your religious teachings. Bible teaches many morals, and defines right from wrong, jsut like growing up your taught right from wrong. though there may be other ways of looking at it, or someone brought up differently then another might view something as wrong as opposed to others view of it being right. i think it comes down to how it affects other people around you and how it affects yourself. i think its bad to steal (after all i wouldnt want to be stolen from), i think its bad to murder (after all i wouldnt want to be murdered). i think the only way you can look at a clear definition is whether or not youd like to be in that position or how it would affect you (negative/positive)

Answer 9

Anything that conducts or enhances or supports human survival is considered good! Anything that is destructive or is oposite to what I described in the first statement is bad.

Answer 10

It is all based on opinion.

Generally though, I'd say anything that causes harm of any form to people is bad, and anything that causes happiness in any form is good.