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Good:
What someone approves, desires, likes to
exist. In general good is
a term of approval, often but not necessarily ethical or
moral approval. And
as defined, what is good clearly depends on the person who judges something.
The general problem here is well expressed by Sextus Empiricus, in "Against
the Ethicists":
"..both layman and philosophers share the same pre-conception and believe
that good and evil exist, - good being that which attracts them and is useful,
and evil that which is of opposite nature, - but as to particular instances they
are at war with one another: -
One thing is pleasing to one man, another thing to another,
and, in the words of Archilochus, -
Men differ as to what things cheer their hearts,
seeing that this man welcomes glory, that man wealth, another well-being, and
another pleasure. And the same account applies to the philosophers." (p. 407)
This does not mean that, therefore, what is good is merely a matter of
taste, since ethical and
moral terms, and related uses of "good",
normally involve quite complicated appraisals of human nature, human
society,
and human capacitities.
Also, this does not mean that what is good is utterly
relative: If there is
a human nature all humans share, and/or if there are a number of capacities
all humans have or lack, then there is a factual basis that is relevant to
many judgments of good and bad.
In Chapter
11 of "On
"The Logic of Moral Discourse"" there is a minimalistic realistic
treatment of "good" and "bad".
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