We had a long, dependent period of immaturity in which to learn this from our adult care-givers. Along with how to dress, where to find food, what noises to run away from, which universities have the best reputation with employers, what party to vote for.artisticsolution wrote: But how do we know if we are really 'good', besides 'we just know'.
In the most practical terms: to earn the approval of one's tribe. To the extent that we have internalized the values of our tribe, and that those values correspond to our own animal well-being, goodness = serenity (no internal conflict).What does it mean 'to be good?'
To the extent the law as practiced corresponds to the stated values of the tribe. (This looks tricky, but is really simple.Is being 'good' simply a matter of obeying the law...
eg 1. We state that honesty is a highly-rated virtue. We support a law that every productive citizen should contribute so much toward the tribe's mutual undertakings. When we cheat on our income tax, we know that the law is congruent with our stated values; our dishonesty is wrong and we feel like crap about it.
eg 2. Honesty is a virtue. Every productive citizen should contribute. And now we discover that the ruling elite are using our contribution for destructive purposes and lying about it. We know their dishonesty is wrong, and that makes us angry. We know their action is wrong, and that makes us angry. We are also afraid of them, so we don't express our anger. Instead we cheat on our income tax, withholding some of our contribution to the destructive activity. Of course, we still feel like crap, because we haven't defended honesty or stood up to wrong. But we have a handier justification to practice dishonesty. Thus our society slowly unravels.
If it's not both/and, your society is unravelling.Or is it more about being accountable to ourselves...or is it about being accountable to others?
That's unimaginable. Social species had laws long - many millions of years - before one of them came up with the concept of morality.If there was no such thing as law,
"Crime" is a direct derivative of "law". It doesn't mean wrong action - it means forbidden action. Whether it's wrong depends on whether the law is right and obeyable. If the sheriff of Nottingham declares a new poll tax, and half the households in the village have no money to pay it, they're committing an unavoidable crime. If the Furer demands that every Jew be transported, and you hide your neighbour's baby, that's an avoidable crime but a right action.do you think the majority of people who obey the law now, would go out and commit crime?
Depends on their need for the thing and who owns it. Medicine from a drugstore when your child is sick? Sure. Anonymous stranger's coat from the hanger in a restaurant when you're freezing? Maybe. Food from your equally poor neighbour? Probably not.Would they steal for example?
There are so many discongruencies between DT's wealth and the concept of good social order that moral values hardly even fit anywhere in that equation. If you want law-abiding citizens, you should make value-based laws.How many of us would consider it okay to take someone's money we did not like? For example, Donald Trump? The law protects him now...but would he be a pauper, if not for the law?
Hobbes can be very trying. I'm not sure I agree that a nation can't be good or bad. If you have enough people with a certain mind-set in one place, it creates a 'persona'. The same is said about large corporations, and studies have determined that they have the persona of a psychopath.