Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Nelson on November 13, 2011 at 8:38pm

I'm not sure what you mean. Can you provide an example? You're saying every time you state something is good?

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Permalink Reply by Monica Salcedo (Monicks) on November 13, 2011 at 8:40pm

"I am good without god." Will you ask me to define "good"?

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Permalink Reply by Nelson on November 13, 2011 at 8:44pm

Well, I would of course assume that by "good" you meant morally good. But then I would assume that a person asking you to stipulate what you meant by the statement was asking you to define what you meant by morally good; morally good according to what measure? Recall that many theists believe that atheists can't be morally good because atheists both a) have no objective grounding for their morality and b) have no reason to want to be morally good. So a person may ask you to stipulate what you mean by good as a way to begin a conversation about the sense in which an atheist could be or should be morally good without a belief in god.

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Permalink Reply by Monica Salcedo (Monicks) on November 13, 2011 at 8:56pm

Amusingly, but not surprisingly, it is always the non-theists who ask these questions. I tend to go with something along the lines: I try to decrease other people's suffering and increase their happiness and wel-being, when possible.

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Permalink Reply by Dennis Weaver on November 15, 2011 at 5:20pm

So would this merely be like, 'I am fine without god'?

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Permalink Reply by Robert Karp on November 13, 2011 at 8:54pm

I find that people who don't have a thoughtful or intelligent answer to your comment, and just want to pick a fight, need to come up with a nonsensical response like "what do you mean by good". Definitions can be examined and twisted to meet people's needs, in the case of your comment, to make people think that your version of good is not good enough. So no, we nor do you really need to define it.

 

Definitions of a word like good, as it is being used by you does not need to be analyzed. As it is almost universally recognized:

good    

right: proper; fit:   It is good that you are here. His credentials are good.   

 

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Permalink Reply by Dennis Weaver on November 15, 2011 at 5:37pm

Yes, I agree... In that example, you're likely just getting trolloled. Albeit the English language inherited the one-word-many-definitions problem of Latin for example. So maybe they're wondering if you mean specifically 'fine', or rather 'morally correct/acceptable'... or something. Maybe just answer with a 'What do you mean, what do you mean?'  question, hah, or tersely rephrase it.

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Permalink Reply by Chris H on November 13, 2011 at 9:05pm

I would say that by default "good" means good for you, as in OK or acceptable to you. That is probably the least deniable meaning when anyone uses the word, irrespective of the meaning they intend.

Obviously most people are inferring a greater meaning, perhaps even suggesting an objective judgement or truth of some kind.

Personally I think to can build up to a practical objective-like judgement by starting with "good for you" and just adding all the necessary related factors in as you go.

For instance, as an extreme example, it may be "good for you" to kill some bothersome individual if you limit the cost benefits to include only the moment and your self. As you extend the scope in time and social reach then quickly it becomes bad for you.

Your example statement "I am good without god" is kind of an illustration of this in a more general sense, in that the implication is that you are in harmony with your community without a believe in God to encourage you to be so. So, you are encompassing the social group into the cost benefit showing that your good is aligned with that of the community as a whole.

So, to paraphrase, good in that case is "in harmony with the community" or some other phrasing with the same meaning which your listener would be able to parse.

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Permalink Reply by Asher Isbrucker on November 13, 2011 at 9:28pm

Good is subjective. What's good to one person could be evil to another person. It's also a very vague word and a pretty boring adjective. So when people ask you what you mean by saying "I'm good without god" they might just want you to be more specific and state in what ways you are fine without an imaginary friend.

 

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." - Shakespeare (not trying to be a pretentious prick, but it's a good quote).

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Permalink Reply by Chris H on November 13, 2011 at 9:59pm

I don't think it is obvious from the post which meaning is intended there.

Which of course illustrates the need for definitions.

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Permalink Reply by Chris H on November 13, 2011 at 11:04pm

Strange, the reply to which I was replying seems to have disappeared.

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Permalink Reply by Robert Karp on November 14, 2011 at 8:52am

Sorry Chris that was my fault. I was trying to edit it and deleted it.

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