What is good?

[atassina]

In a discussion I was able to define evil as the absence of good. I was unable to define the good-- the good, the true and the beautiful. What is good?

-How can I reason to a certain definition of the good beyond any religion-- a definition simply based on reason?

I have internalized many conclusions that I have heard, but I am unable to quickly, cogently and clearly give the reasoning process.

So some help please, what is good?

Meanwhile, have a nice piece of cake.

 

[Linusthe2nd]

In a discussion I was able to define evil as the absence of good. I was unable to define the good-- the good, the true and the beautiful. What is good?

-How can I reason to a certain definition of the good beyond any religion-- a definition simply based on reason?

I have internalized many conclusions that I have heard, but I am unable to quickly, cogently and clearly give the reasoning process.

So some help please, what is good?

Meanwhile, have a nice piece of cake.

Simply put the good must be defined as whatever conforms to truth in morality, ethics, or reality. See this discussion and see if it helps. newadvent.org/cathen/06636b.htm

You have a strange " head shot. " Having a little fun hey .

Linus2nd

 

[fhansen]

In a discussion I was able to define evil as the absence of good. I was unable to define the good-- the good, the true and the beautiful. What is good?

-How can I reason to a certain definition of the good beyond any religion-- a definition simply based on reason?

I have internalized many conclusions that I have heard, but I am unable to quickly, cogently and clearly give the reasoning process.

So some help please, what is good?

Meanwhile, have a nice piece of cake.

We already know it; we experience it everyday, along with evil, that which would detract from it. Beauty, pleasure, wholeness, peace, joy, order, justice, integrity, truth, honesty, reason, courage, love…God.

 

[polytropos]

In a discussion I was able to define evil as the absence of good. I was unable to define the good-- the good, the true and the beautiful. What is good?

-How can I reason to a certain definition of the good beyond any religion-- a definition simply based on reason?

I have internalized many conclusions that I have heard, but I am unable to quickly, cogently and clearly give the reasoning process.

So some help please, what is good?

Here is an account I’ve given in a previous post about being/actuality, goodness, and truth, which are “transcendentals.”

Good is the aspect of being as desirable, which is to say that its distinction from being is conceptual. (But since being is objective, good is likewise still objective.) The good, then, is parasitic upon (basically) things succeeding at being what they are (which is rooted in their form).

This is evident due to the “logically predicative” nature of the predicate “is good.” In other words, to make sense of a proposition “X is good” requires that we know what sort of thing X is. (In “This knife is good” and “Snickers (a cat) is good”, “is good” is not univocal. To be a good knife is different from being a good cat.) If X is a Y, then “X is good” should be analyzed as “X is a good Y”. If Y is a form, then we have rooted good in being/actuality (and the privation view of evil follows, since X will be less good inasmuch as it fails to be a Y).

The doctrine of analogy follows likewise. If X is a Y and Z is a W (and Ys are not Ws), then the predicate “is good” differs in sense from “X is good” and “Y is good”, though the difference is not equivocal in the sense that “is good” and “is blue” are equivocal.

 

[VincentChristop]

Everyone has their own definition of good.

If you wanted a christion definition obey the commandments.

 

[Bob_Crowley]

In a discussion I was able to define evil as the absence of good. I was unable to define the good-- the good, the true and the beautiful. What is good?

-How can I reason to a certain definition of the good beyond any religion-- a definition simply based on reason?

I have internalized many conclusions that I have heard, but I am unable to quickly, cogently and clearly give the reasoning process.

So some help please, what is good?

Meanwhile, have a nice piece of cake.

Christians are fond of quoting “God is Love”.

Christ once answered a question with another leading question,

Mark 10:18 NIV

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good–except God alone.”

So strictly speaking, no one is good in the absolute sense but God. And if God is “love”, then absolute goodness must be a subset of, or equal to, absolute love. They’re two sides of the same coin.

Any goodness we might have derives from that eternal source, and is a small subset of that infinite set.

However we are supposed to understand that…

A piece of cake would make a start.

 

[atassina]

thanks all the OP

 

[Counterpoint]

In a discussion I was able to define evil as the absence of good. I was unable to define the good-- the good, the true and the beautiful. What is good?

-How can I reason to a certain definition of the good beyond any religion-- a definition simply based on reason?

I have internalized many conclusions that I have heard, but I am unable to quickly, cogently and clearly give the reasoning process.

So some help please, what is good?

Meanwhile, have a nice piece of cake.

God is the Good, the True, and the Beautiful. (Sounds like an old Clint Eastwood spaghetti western. Huh?)