Describe a good person

[ThatsWhatHeSaid]

It starts with an "S" and rhymes with "rubstitute."

Give up?



*tickle*

 

[Vivid]

There are too many different kinds of good person to name. Moreover, we all have the capability to be good, and at different times in our lives have different levels of goodness, if you will.

But traits that I personally admire are:

The ability to be compassionate not only toward others, but also and especially toward oneself.
Independence.
Honesty, i.e. the courage to put oneself out there genuinely.
Critical thinking.
A sense of humor.
Silliness.
A sense of wonder and imagination.
Mellowness.
Courage in general.

Agreed 100%.

 

[Mort Belfry]

Someone who is offended by nothing and has no inhibition to stop them talking about anything.
Someone who puts a meanlingless chat with a friend above an important popularity-enhancing endeavour.
Someone who will help you pick on and make of anybody not in the room.

 

[Thursday]

has respect for others and self
honest
not overly selfish
doesn't do harm to others

 

[sriv]

My conclusion when interpreting good to mean having ability.

The cold, efficient, Machiavellian manipulatist who puppeteers the environment to his bidding. This requires complete self-control over emotions, thought, expressions, and language. Also requires knowledge of human thought processes, sophism, understanding of emotions, and reading expressions. Therefore self-control and knowledge are the traits with the most potential for independent ability and success.

 

[Journey]

Someone who is Christlike.

 

[Seanan]

has respect for others and self
honest
not overly selfish
doesn't do harm to others

ditto

 

[headhurts]

I am influenced by Socrates and Aristotle in my idea of what a good person is.

- Someone who seeks the truth, denying their own beliefs or opinions until properly compared to others. So many people around me are married to their own beliefs (often spoon-fed to them by their parents) before they have even heard other options.

- Someone who shows open concern for others, even willing to postpone some of their own happiness in order to benefit others.

- Someone who believes in the necessity of ethics and morality.

- Unconditional love.

I thought Aristotle believed in moderation. For example, too much courage is just as bad as too little. Unconditional love (I guess depending on your definition) may become unbridled. Also, putting aside your well being for others is an extreme.

To a degree, I believe that a good person will be truth seeking. Plato believed that to judge morality and what is ‘good’, one had to have training in logic and rational thinking. In other words, the mind of a ‘good person’ had to be in complete harmony with itself, no conflict between thoughts and ideas, so that they could judge what was moral/good, and then act to address the issue. He believed that only philosophers had the training and capacity to do this, and thus only philosophers should lead the city-state.

In some ways, I agree with Plato. To be a good person and to know what is good vs bad/moral vs immoral, one must have a clear and completely rational mind to decide for themselves. Plato was obsessed with defining the ideal mind. What would it be like in there? His works are incredibly interesting, albeit excessive at times.

 

[Cerpin_Taxt]

In my opinion, a good human being, is an individual, who seeks knowledge, primarily for it's own sake; who avoids making close-minded moral judgements, has the ability to laugh at themselves, and can, baring extenuating circumstances, keep promises. Also someone who exhibits patience, and finally an individual who, to paraphrase Nietzsche, will save others from shame -- even if it leads to their own. Hold on a minute, I knew I’d forgotten one attribute, somebody that can recite, verbatim, the lyrics to at least three Monty Python songs.

 

[Cerpin_Taxt]

headhurts you have a nice avatar, do you have a favourite Dylan album?

It starts with an "S" and rhymes with "rubstitute."

Give up?



*tickle*

A Syphilitic Prostitute

 

[Gen]

Some of you are very particular and demanding. Do you fit your own descriptions?

A good person means well and does little harm to others. If they do some harm, they feel guilt and regret and try to make things right. Selfishness is kept to a minimum and tolerance is practiced.

 

[swordpath]

Consistency, loyalty and considering others before self.

 

[Jeffster]

I don't think there is such thing as a good person. There are good and bad actions, but people are people.

 

[Aerithria]

The ideal:
- Critical thinker
- Honest
- Independent
- Intelligent: someone who knows what they know and knows what they don't, and knows when to use it; who borders on know-it-all-ism but doesn't quite cross that line
- Someone with the ability to appreciate good humour
- Someone who isn't ashamed to have talent
- Someone who is willing to question their own beliefs in the face of opposing evidence

The real: a good person is someone who strives for the ideal, regardless of whether or not it can be attained.

 

[headhurts]

headhurts you have a nice avatar, do you have a favourite Dylan album?

Thanks!

It's difficult to pick a favourite album. Quite like Blonde on Blonde. Are you a fan?

 

[headhurts]

I don't think there is such thing as a good person. There are good and bad actions, but people are people.

Geez, haven't heard that before....

Some of you are very particular and demanding.

I think that questioning what makes a person 'good' isn't spoken about enough. It was discussed by ancient scholars and philosophers at length. In todays washed up society... well... i'm not really surprised that people overlook the significance of such a question.

Do you fit your own descriptions?

Being a hypocrite doesn't make an argument or statement any less valid. Who cares if we do or do not?

 

[vince]

Being a good person depends on how you deal with everything that is not yourself. Wether your actions contribute positively to the focus of your attention. A matter of intentions as well.
But my T shadow says there's no such thing as good or bad.

 

[Oberon]

The idea for this thread comes from cafe's comments in the "My Naive View of Relationships" thread by
prplchknz.

A good person is honest, kind, and humble, and displays these Big Three qualities most of the time.

Unqualified tolerance doesn't figure in; blanket tolerance is manifestly dysfunctional.

Responsibility is a nice feature to have, but one can lack it and still be a good person. The same is true of being wise, smart, or capable. I wouldn't say that's true of the Big Three.

 

[dorareever]

I don't believe in good and evil. But maybe here good is meant to be "efficient", instead of morally sound, I mean "efficient" as in "able to lead a life where you don't hurt others and yourself too much" not in the stereoptypied SJ meaning of the the word.

I think that being compassionate towards others, being able to question yourself and recognize your feelings, being brave enough to stand up in front of enemies and adversities and not hurting others just to hide your cowardice and failures would do.

So, good means kind and courageous mostly. Some people aren't "good", but it means that they are weak, not evil. Also, nobody is good all the time, humans are weak sometimes.

 

[Akari]

Maybe honest, kind and responsible are the stereotypes for the word good?

Like dorareever's posts, good and evil don't really exist. It could even mean self-confident. Most say 'good' people don't cause harm, and don't create it. So aren't most normal people good people?