Philosophers: Can we attain good without reason?

Question

Kindly answer within the philosophical context. It will be my great appreciation. Thank you so much and have a great whole day.

Answer 1

Good and bad can only be determined through reason.... no gospel, no religion, no law by itself can ever decide what is good or bad unless it is examined through reason in terms of its long-term and wider implications on the wellbeing of mankind as a whole. In fact the same applies even for an individual.... no individual can conclusively decide what is good or bad unless he/she reasons it out as to what its implications and repercussions are.... the generic good and bad are culled out based on cumulative past experience that shows a consistency in the implications and repercussions of the concerned thought or act that is then classified as good or bad respectively based on favorable or unfavorable outcome experienced consistently.

It is based on reason and that is why it can be different for different societies and also for different individuals, as also change in accordance with changes arising from the passage of time..... because reason is relative to current obtaining situation and corresponding requirements..... my reason can differ from another's, one society's reason can differ from another's and today's reason can differ from that of the past or what would be in the future.

Hope you find this a reasonable answer to your question, which I must admit is rather tough and deep!!

Answer 2

Highly unlikely. iTwould be like attaining for something out of moral anarchy.
Plato thought that the world of sense is unreal, fleeting, and changing. This is evil. The real world of pure and unchanging ideas is the world of good. Man can only know this real world through his reason. Therefore, reason is the highest good for man. The end goal of life is the release of the soul from the body so that it can contemplate the true world of ideas. Reason, is the intellect, the intellect is also the soul.
But man may live a just life even though he is held down by the material body( matter to Plato, is evil and always changing), it would be like living with/or in chaos. There are three components of a human individual-the appetites(desires,emotions, feelings), bodily functions(bodily anatomy), and the reason. But according to Plato, this can be reprimanded as long as the rational part of man (reason) rules his actions.

Thus, a life of reason is the highest good for man. This kind of life accoding to Plato, is a happy life. Happiness and goodness go together.

Answer 3

Yes, that does happen more than most here probably so think. Note especially the third paragraph that I present here below. This Epochal Revelation is fully in the Public Domain and may be widely shared as you so desire.

Page-1140 8. PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION

"Although both science and philosophy may assume the probability of God by their reason and logic, only the personal religious experience of a spirit-led man can affirm the certainty of such a supreme and personal Deity. By the technique of such an incarnation of living truth the philosophic hypothesis of the probability of God becomes a religious reality.

The confusion about the experience of the certainty of God arises out of the dissimilar interpretations and relations of that experience by separate individuals and by different races of men. The experiencing of God may be wholly valid, but the discourse about God, being intellectual and philosophical, is divergent and oftentimes confusingly fallacious.

A good and noble man may be consummately in love with his wife but utterly unable to pass a satisfactory written examination on the psychology of marital love. Another man, having little or no love for his spouse, might pass such an examination most acceptably. The imperfection of the lover's insight into the true nature of the beloved does not in the least invalidate either the reality or sincerity of his love.


If you truly believe in God -- by faith know him and love him -- do not permit the reality of such an experience to be in any way lessened or detracted from by the doubting insinuations of science, the caviling of logic, the postulates of philosophy, or the clever suggestions of well-meaning souls who would create a religion without God.

The certainty of the God-knowing religionist should not be disturbed by the uncertainty of the doubting materialist; rather should the uncertainty of the unbeliever be mightily challenged by the profound faith and unshakable certainty of the experiential believer.


Philosophy, to be of the greatest service to both science and religion, should avoid the extremes of both materialism and pantheism. Only a philosophy which recognizes the reality of personality -- permanence in the presence of change -- can be of moral value to man, can serve as a liaison between the theories of material science and spiritual religion. Revelation is a compensation for the frailties of evolving philosophy."


Peace and progress,
Brother Dave, a Jesusonian Christian Truthist
http://www.PureChristians.org/ Gospel enlarging website,
proclaiming worldwide the True Religion
OF JESUS and ABOUT JESUS and IN JESUS
Come and share !

Answer 4

I think so. People separate Emotion from Reason.

Have you never felt sad because someone else was sad? Smiled because someone was having a good time, and you could see their soul glow with happiness?
Have you not felt angry when a friend was hurt?

:-) You get the idea.


Have you FELT you need to do "the good thing"? That comes from Emotion first, I believe, and the reason might decide what to do, but really, it depends on the person, some people use emotion more than reason and vice versa.

Not attacking anyone, just asking:
Do you think Bush attacked Iraq because he felt the people need help, or because he wanted the oil?

You come to your own conclusion, but you should clearly see Emotion OR Reason on those two choices. Which one do you think is "Good"?

Is it emotion, or reason based?
:-)

Answer 5

Almost anything can be attained randomly.... with no directed pressure whatsoever. That includes the fallacious concept of "good" also, but likewise its opposite. As such reason is not a necessity for such.

Having the will to act within certain confines will directly scew the probabilities involved therein however, and the ability to more accurately predict the course of events to a greater degree will likewise influence the outcome to a greater degree..... in as much as one can be said to.


It is however important to note that "good" is a purely subjective concept, and given its definition relies on social interactivity, it is effectively a redundant term.

Answer 6

Before this question could be answered, we would have to define "good." Philosophically, there is no "absolute" good. Thus, the question rather drifts in the wind, don't you think?

I looked at answers, & find the most incredibly sound, & logical response from small. I cannot think of a thing I would modify, or add to it.

Answer 7

Not without good reason. "Good" as it is true of every word, has many possible definitions for it. "Good" is what the Will demands for its self. The Will is positive, the Judgment is negative and the Judgment does not posit for what is 'good' but identifies what is bad or negative. Without Judgment we are attracted to everything to satisfy question, somethings of all things are deadly, but there is no Judgment to hint or alert.

Answer 8

You can do good or bad without realising you have done so.
But if you want to attain good then you need a reason.

Answer 9

the answer lays between our thoughts it is easy to obtain the differences with the human mind what vs bad or good in our self

Answer 10

I think the people deemed retarded are unique and can't comprehend bad or evil because they lack reasoning and are ( god given ) genuinely good people.
So yes we are born good - I think it is the ability to reason that can separate us from goodness.