Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- .This section is about good and bad. Topics include: ( ) Good. ( ) Bad. --- 1/24/2006
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- (1) Doing an unjust act (A) When it does not seem unjust to you. It actually seems just. (B) And when you have a number of reasons in mind for doing the act. (2) Doing an unjust act when (A) You know full well how wrong it is. (B) And you have reasons why you do it still. (3) Doing and unjust act when (A) You had no thought in your conscious mind either way as to the justice of the act. (B) You have no reasons in mind for doing the act. --- 8/8/1998
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- (1) Doing the right thing, by accident. (2) Doing the right thing on purpose, and (A) knowing the reason why vs. (B) not knowing the reason why. --- 10/30/1994
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- (1) Good and bad refer to natural events. Right and wrong refer to human actions. (2) Events have causes. Actions have reasons. (3) The reasons the actor says. vs. The reasons the actor thinks. vs. The real causes. These can be three different things. --- 6/8/2004
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- (1) Is there such a thing as a totally good action, with no bad effects? Yes. For example, helping someone. (2) Is there such as thing as a totally bad action, with no good effects. Yes. For example, the murder of children. (3) Are all actions mixed, with both good and bad effects? No. --- 6/8/2004
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Both. "Right" and "wrong" are terms that apply to actions by sentient beings like conscious humans. (2) "Good" and "bad" are terms that apply to things and situations. (3) "Evil" is just another way of saying "bad". "Evil" is a term that tends to have religious connotations, overtones, baggage. --- 4/28/2001
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Both. (1) Brushes with good. The experience of good as benefactor, recipient, and eye witness. (2) Brushes with evil. The experience of evil as perpetrator, victim, and eye witness. --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Both. (1) Reasons people give for doing good. (A) Taught that way by someone. (B) To help society. (C) To help self. (D) God says to. (2) Reasons people give for doing bad. (A) It is ok to do it against certain groups (discrimination). (B) It is ok for themselves to do it. (C) Others won't be hurt bad, it is a victimless crime. (D) Someone did it to them. (E) Someone else did it so why can't they. (F) Everyone's doing it. (G) It doesn't matter: it is not really bad, it is insignificant. (H) People always give a reason why to be unethical. (3) Reasons people actually do bad. (A) Anger transferred to an innocent: doing to an innocent individual what an unjust person or group or nature did to you. Anger transfer: get back at an innocent person for a previous wrong done to self by either self, another individual, a society, or nature. (B) Survival, poverty, can't make a living. (C) Revenge. (D) Joy: sadism. (E) Excitement: power trip. (F) Excitement: breaking law. (G) To late to turn back. (H) Reward: sex, money. (4) Reasons people actually do good. --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Both. (1) Tendency toward good or evil in an individual, how strong is it? (2) Causes of evil. Abused as child. Really dumb. Mental problems. --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Both. (1) The worst in life. The worst life has to offer. Murder, genocide, sadistic molestation, torture, monumental natural disasters, war, bad luck. (2) The best life has to offer. True love, true friendship, cooperation, sacrifice and effort for the greater good, change for the better, great luck, beauty of mild nature, justice. --- 02/04/1994
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Both. (1) What is the ethical status of someone who does much bad and much good? Does it even out? (2) Do ethical acts differ in quality, as well as quantity, of good or bad they produce? Is it a case of not being able to compare apples and oranges? --- 04/15/1997
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Both. (1) Why do people do good? Reasons. (2) Why do people do bad? Reasons. --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Both. Capacity for good or evil. Knowingly, vs. incorrectly thinking they know, vs. unknowingly. --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Both. Capacity or capability for good or evil. How much good or bad can you do? --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Both. Ethics doesn't always mean don't hurt anyone. Harm is always done by degree. "Hurt" being used here to mean "deprive". Ethics sometimes means how much to deprive one group in order to help another group. Sometimes it is not a matter of right and wrong; sometimes it is a matter of balancing interests of groups. --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Both. People often cannot see if, how, or why, what they are doing is harmful or good. --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Both. Reasons given vs. actual reasons (causes). --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Both. Things that seem good or bad, before, during, and after doing them. Most important cases. (1) Before. (A) Before the act I thought doing the act would be good (g g g). vs. (B) Before the event I thought doing the act would be bad (b b b). (2) During. (A) I thought it would be good, but while I was doing the act it felt bad (g b b). vs. (B) I thought it would be bad, but while I was doing the act it felt good (b g g). (3) After. (A) What I thought would be good, and what felt good while I was doing it, now seems bad after the fact (g g b). vs. (B) What I thought would be bad, and what felt bad at the time, now seems good after the fact (b b g). --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Both. Total good or bad = total helps vs. hurts. (1) Degree help or hurt: how good or bad. (2) Amount help or hurt: a lot or a little. Number of people. (3) Frequency help or hurt. (4) Type help or hurt. (5) Good or damage done per person, times total number of people. --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Both. X is good or bad only relative to y. An action is good or bad only relative to a person in a situation and the other action choices they have available. --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Can a person be too good (ethical), in mind and action? What can we say about goody two shoes? (1) Mind. (A) They repress their anger. (B) The world is full of conflict and injustice. Those who are too ethical do not develop their ability to stand up for themselves, fight and survive. (C) They are unwilling to do wrong if it is practical. (2) Action. (A) They don't fight. --- 5/15/1998
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Causes of evil. (1) Person can't figure out why not to do an act. Person can't figure out what else to do instead. (2) Person does not care. Selfish. Lacks empathy. Extreme egoist. Hyper-competitiveness. (3) Person never developed socially. (4) Person is addicted to money or power. Greed. Power abuser, bully. (5) Person lost their temper. --- 10/30/2004
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Evil can be very seductive (pleasurable evils). Being good is not always easy (painful goods). --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Evil has a pseudo-philosophy which consists of the set of lame excuses it uses to try to justify its actions. --- 6/4/2004
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Evil. (1) All the times and ways we get screwed in life, by self, others, and nature, and the damage it does. (2) Types of damage. Repairable vs. irreparable. Temporary vs. permanent. Replaceable vs. irreplaceable. Psychological, physical, monetary, and material harm. --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Evil. Causes of evil and crime (see psychology and law). --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Evil. Causes of evil. (1) They have no sense of ethics; totally unwitting. (2) They hate you for some reason, and want to hurt you. (3) They want to get something, and you are in the way. (4) They have lost control of themselves. --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Evil. Death and suffering (physical and psychological) are not ennobling, or enlightening, or worthwhile. They just suck. Some people think that death and suffering are worthwhile and good. Wrong. Those people need to move onward. --- 08/17/1997
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Evil. Every unethical action you commit degrades you, and you have to live with it for the rest of your life. This is very important. --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Evil. Nature of evil (ethical metaphysics). Malice aforethought. Crimes of passion. Insanity defense. --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Evil. The philosophers of the past asked questions such as if anyone knowingly does evil, or if most evil acts are done by people who think they are doing good. Today, most people ask if evil doers are crazy. One way to define crazy is whether the person is mentally ill, such as hallucinating or psychotic, and most people who do evil are not crazy in this sense. Another way to define crazy is mentally deficient, such as lacking in empathy or lacking in ethical reasoning skills, and most people who do evil are crazy in this respect. --- 9/19/2001
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Evil. Three types of bad. (1) Unintentional, yet avoidable accident, done out of ignorance. (2) Unintentional and unavoidable accident, with no ignorance involved. (3) Intentional evil. --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Evil. To know evil, we must experience evil as doer and doee. Don't worry, sooner or later both happen to us. We should not seek to do evil, or seek to have evil done to us. --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Evil. We should not sympathize or condone evil. We should know how evil works, and what makes it work. --- 12/06/1988
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Evil. What justifies committing a bad action? --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Good = perfect. There is no good, only bad by degree. An ethical action makes things less bad. --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Good and bad defined as justice and injustice. Good and bad defined as pleasure and pain. The latter is a subset of the former. --- 9/28/2002
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Good and bad situations. Good and bad people. Good and bad acts. --- 11/15/2001
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Good as skillful, bad as unskillful. Good as ethical, bad as unethical. --- 8/18/2002
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Good. (1) Can we be too ethical? Overly ethical, repressed, victorian, too polite, too many manners? (2) Can you be too nice? Too lenient, if you let others take advantage of you? --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Good. What is best? (1) Is it what will do you most good? Cod liver oil does good but tastes bad. (2) Is it what you will enjoy the most? (3) What mix of activities will give you either of above? --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Happiness. Two perspectives on what makes a person happy. (1) What makes a person happy in the short term, locally. For example, in the next hour, in the immediate vicinity. (2) What makes a person happy in the long term, globally. For example, in the context of a person's entire life, past, present and future; and in the context of the entire world, including all the problems that the world faces. --- 10/17/2005
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- If we graphed the total population according to how good and evil they are, would it produce a bell curve? That is, are there proportionally only a few very bad people, a few very good people and most of the people in the middle? PART TWO. How do we judge good and evil? If a person never did anything bad but also never did anything good are they a good person? --- 9/20/2002
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- It is easier to do evil than good. Physically easier. And more tempting. Easier to destroy than create. An adult takes 18 years to make. It takes one second to kill them. Some go out and destroy things instantly, but it takes time to create. --- 11/30/1996
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Lame excuses, rationalizations and justifications that people use for unethical acts. (1). Only this once. Only one time. (2) I have no alternative. I have no options. I have to do it. You are making me do it. (3) I'm doing it for someone else. I'm doing it as a favor for a friend. I owe someone else. (4) If you don't get caught then its not wrong. (5) Everyone is doing it. (6) The only way to succeed is to scam. (7) It doesn't hurt anyone. (8) I didn't know it was wrong. (9) I disagree that it is wrong. (10) I don't care if its wrong. (11) I was gypped at birth or sometime after. (12) Make up some reasons to do it. Its payback, revenge, vendetta. (13) Trump up some charges. I thought it was justice. Vigilantes. (14) The entire system is corrupt, so why not. --- 10/28/2003
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Lame justifications they use. (1) Everyone is doing it. (2) The end justifies any means. (3) There are no rules. There are no ethics. --- 10/5/2003
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Lame reasons given for unethical behaviors. (1) "I didn't know I did X" (2) "I didn't know x was unethical." (3) "I didn't know x was illegal." (4) "It was accidental." (5) "I feel justified in doing x. I'm not sorry." (6) "That person offends me. That person did something to someone else (vigilante)." (7) "Another person did it to me so its okay for me to do it to someone else." (8) "The act I did is not unethical according to me, it is only unethical according to society." --- 2/15/2003
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Lame things people say to try to justify evil: "Sometimes you have to do evil in order to do good". "Sometimes what looks evil is actually good". --- 10/14/2003
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Neutral. Is there such a thing as an ethically neutral act? To self, or to another? --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Nothing is all good or all bad. Everything is a mix of good and bad. Something is always lost, something is always gained. --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- PART ONE. Reasons people give for doing wrong, bad, evil. Its not illegal to do it. PART TWO. Reasons people give for breaking the law. The law is unjust. I am above the law. I didn't know it was illegal. --- 10/28/2003
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Reasons why people do wrong. As excitement to relieve the boredom of existence. A test here is to ask if the person would do it if it was not either ethically wrong, socially taboo or illegal. --- 12/23/2003
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Some people do good or bad acts totally ignorant, unknowing and clueless about whether the act is good or bad. They act amorally. (2) Some people commit good or bad acts under the misapprehension or delusion that it is the opposite. For example, they think they are doing good when they are actually doing bad. (3) Some people have an accurate perception of the ethical nature of their actions. They are cognizant of the actual ramifications. --- 11/15/2001
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- The Bad: crime, disease, poverty, neglect and abuse, addiction, mental illness, pollution, torture, prison. The Good: health, total love, eternal love, caring, sex. --- 12/30/1995
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- The notions of "better and worse" are used more often than the notions of "good and evil". To some extent acts are judged good and evil in relation to each other, thus producing notions of better and worse. Ethical holism: acts are good and evil within a world of acts. Ethical relativity: acts are good or evil in relation to other acts. --- 6/27/2004
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- There are a zillion good things to do. There are a zillion bad things to do. --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- There are many good things and good states that we need to get. There are many bad things and bad states we need to prevent or cure. If there was only one good thing and one bad thing that would simplify the situation. Many goods and bads complicate the situation. --- 10/30/2004
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Three types of good. (1) Feels good and is good for you. (2) Feels good but is not good for you. (3) Feels bad but is good for you (ex. working out). PART TWO. Three types of bad. (1) Feels good but is bad for you. (2) Feels bad and is bad for you. (3) Feels bad but is actually good for you (this is actually good). --- 2/24/2002
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Uses of the word "good". (1) "Good" used as an aesthetic term. "This is a good work of art", meaning aesthetically successful. (2) "Good" used as an ethical term. (3) "Good used as a real-politik, Machiavellian term. "That was a good (tactical) move.", meaning to achieve a goal. --- 4/29/2001
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Ways of doing good. (1) Doing good for a reward. For example, money, fame, sex. Almost anyone would do good for a reward. (2) Doing good for no reward, but also in the face of no opposition. Many people would do good for no reward, if faced with no opposition. (3) Doing good for no reward, in the face of opposition. Only a few people do good for no reward, in the face of opposition. --- 6/15/2005
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- What are the bad things in this world? Hate, violence, war, crime, illness, famine, ignorance, illiteracy, lack of education, intolerance, injustice, inequality, oppression, exploitation, abuse and neglect. (2) What are the good things in this world? Fairness, justice, equality, liberty, truth and health. --- 12/26/2003
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- What good can one accomplish? What evil can one prevent? --- 10/10/2004
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- What is a good person (mind, body, actions), place, thing, object, event, or idea? --- 12/30/1992
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- When discussing the ethical terms "right" and "wrong", it does not help that the word "right" can mean (1) Ethically good. (2) Correct. Example, getting the right answer on a test. (3) Political rights, such as the right to vote. (4) Political right wing, as opposed to left wing. (5) Direction, as in right-handed or left-handed, or right turn or left turn. --- 4/28/2001
Philosophy, ethics, good and bad. --- Why is it tough to do good? (1) Because it is hard work, boring, lonely, and it is tempting to fu*k off. (2) You don't know for sure how good the good is in its effects, or how bad the bad is. (3) Often no reward, or delayed reward. (4) Tough to figure out and remember what is good. (5) Evil is easy and tempting. --- 12/30/1995