Goodness - is this off topic?
tormod and I have been having some discussions on the bottom of a previous post about what it means to "do good". We don't agree because he / she is, I think a Christian, whereas I am an atheist.
I stated that I thought good was a construct that we have created, meaning, to do the right cohesive thing for human society. I think that
tormodthinks that without God, we would have no moral compass at all. But I will let
tormodrepresent him or herself (I don't mean to be rude about gender, I looked at your LJ, and I didn't find any clues!).
I had just written that I thought goodness was hard wired into the human race, and as
tormodpointed out, that would make it an instinct, which by definition is not much of a virtue if we have no choice about it. I've changed my mind a bit, thanks to our discussion, and although many aspects of the human social order might be hard-wired, I don't think goodness is. That is why religions, philosophies and governments all exhort us repeatedly to be good, and punish is in various ways when we are not.
Perhaps it is because we have not lived in complex social structures for long enough to make goodness innate, or perhaps it is because game theory would probably say that the best outcome for any individual would be to be selfish while everyone else keeps the "good" rules; but we do have to be told over and over again how and why we have to be good. And the answer, deep down, is because it is the best thing for society as a whole.
Altruism is an interesting component of human life. I think ultimately, we get the payoff of feeling great when we have been altruistic, there's something in it for us, just as there was something in it for pilgrims who climb mountains on their knees or wear hair shirts. That felgood factor is the main reward for being good, other than medals, money, social position, the receipt of fawning gratitude, and so on.
And just because I think it is an important component of a stable society doesn't belittle the virtue of goodness to me. I strive to do more of it.
What do you all think?