“Good and Evil” by profound Whatever is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Goodness
The term goodness, is not always hold a meaning as clear or as obvious as many people think; different traditions define it differently. But there is a simple core that many perspectives overlap on.
A working definition
In everyday ethical thinking, goodness usually means acting in ways that reduce unnecessary harm and support the genuine well-being and dignity of yourself and others. [1][2]
Psychology often talks about “prosocial” behaviour: choices aimed at helping, sharing, comforting, and cooperating, driven by concern for others’ needs and rights. [3][2]
Character, not just single acts
The ethics of virtue frames goodness less as isolated deeds and more as a *way of being*: cultivating traits like honesty,courage, fairness, and kindness that reliably guide behaviour across situations. [4][5][6]
On this view, a “good” person is someone whose settled character makes them generally trustworthy to try to do what is fair, caring, and wise, even when it is difficult. [6][4]
Room for disagreement
Photo by rdaconnect on Pixabay
Philosophers still argue about whether goodness is about consequences (maximising overall benefit), duties and rules (respecting rights and obligations), or virtues and flourishing (living a deeply worthwhile life). [7][8][9]
Therefore, this simple guide is necessarily a “choice” of emphasis; other interpretations can lean on the notion of minimising avoidable harm, strengthening care and fairness, and grow into the kind of character you yourself could respect.
Subjective meanings
The term goodness, like many terms used by many people, can mean a lot of things to many people, and ti is safe to assume that not everyone will agree with what you might consider to be goodness. Some may even see what you call goodness, as being outright evil 🙂
Further Reading
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