Not always, obviously.
Also you’d have to prove that being a “good” person consistently leads to people liking you. People make false judgements of others sometimes. Tightly knit bonds between individuals may keep people from formulating a bad opinion of another person.
Being as overtly good to others as possible will lead to others having a good opinion of you, but this isn’t always the case. What about a case in which being a good person means violating a social code? By being a good person in this case you face social rejection and potential stigmatization. What then?
What about those born in social conditions where the ease of their life is guaranteed? What about those born to a socially stigmatized group where their goodness is overlooked?
The key word in what I’m saying is “overtly”. Appearing good is more important in terms of social safety than actually being good.
The only time I can think of were no such benefits would be available would be if you live with psychopaths or no humans at all.
Although I once read an article of a guy who saved a penguin or some shit and the penguin visited him every year on that day. That itself proves even lower beings appreciate kindness and if they appreciate it how much would humans?
Heck there’s even articles of dolphins saving scuba divers when there’d be no benefit at all.
If wild animals can be nice and appreciate kindess that says alot.
(Although stuff like that is rare and isn’t too likely)
Simply expressing an observation is sociopathic? That’s odd. You seem to have derived meaning from my sentence that didn’t exist.
Do you have a degree in psychology? Do you have the necessary certifications to come to such a conclusion?
While I do not miss people often, I do retain good thoughts concerning them. In all the cases of my former friends, I am simply content with any certification that they are currently faring well. Their physical presence in my life isn’t as important to me.
What about a scenario in which an act of moral goodness could not be directly observed by others? What about, as I said earlier, a case in which such an act was met with backlash like defending a bullied individual? What about a scenario in which you must stake your life or the life of a valued person?
I would talk about how being “good” to others could present more possibly beneficial opportunities in the future, though I won’t get too far into that since it seems a bunch of people already mentioned that. If I be nice to someone and help them on occasion, they can feel an obligation to repay that favor with a gift or offer to help in any time I am in need.
Other than this, being “bad” can make most people feel stressed mentally. Since we are young we are taught to be good, engraving this mentality to be good as well as care for others around us. This sort of ideology is beneficial to society, though a single person disregarding this would not ruin everything. Rather, it may be detrimental to the person themself. Anyone acting bad may feel a sort of failure or insult to their parents who raised them otherwise, like a child who did something bad except some of this feeling can carry into adulthood. If I decide to steal someone’s bike they left without a lock I may be able to get off without a fine, yet because of how I was raised I would feel conscious and guilty of the action most times I rode it. (Also stress comes knowing you committed a crime and could be caught in the act, facing public backlash or even punished)
Imagine I walked to a door that pushes out into the street. Every day I just slam it open because that’s what’s easiest for me, no reason to be polite for people on the street because they most likely won’t confront me. Well, this one time a guy named Mark happened to be walking right in front of the door and got smacked by it. He falls to the ground, a bit jarred, but nonetheless gets up and walks off. Nothing physically happened to me. I never see Mark ever again in my life. Yet because of simple empathy I have, I feel bad for Mark. I may go about my business, yet the thought could linger throughout the entire day thinking how if I had just taken my care with the door, Mark wouldn’t have gotten himself hurt. In the end it would have been more beneficial to me and me alone if I had been careful with the door simply due to mental health. If you have somehow developed a mind in which you have utterly no empathy or care for others around you, sure, it wouldn’t affect you. But for most people doing simple acts of kindness even to complete strangers can give them a slight feeling of happiness and help avoid mental stress or guilt.
Also sorry if I missed the conversation, spent a while typing this so I’m not sure if my point was already addressed.
I am not any sort of psychologist. There is a good chance I’m completely wrong, even in my biased opinion.
Deriving implicit information from the way people talk is a perfectly normal thing to do, although maybe I should have kept it to myself and just watched to see if the pattern continued.
Yeah I noticed that same point a bit into writing it, I just wanted to elaborate on that idea for some people here too. This kind of question gets asked often so at least my answer might help others as well.
Path? What path?
I haven’t made any statement that suggested that I intend on being a bad person simply because I can find no good reason not to do so (even though such reasons DO exist, as I have said earlier).
Regarding a situation were moral goodness couldn’t be directly observed you still have a conscience as other people pointed out so you’d definitely feel bad if you were raised in a way to know what you did was wrong.
As for acting good with backlash suppose someone did get bullied and I decided to ignore it and keep walking ,not only was I a coward because I didn’t do anything but I’m no different from the bully because I let it slide.
Suppose I did end up helping the kids from being bullied not only do I earn the respect from the kid but possibly the respect of others which could be beneficial. Other than that at least I did the right thing so my conscience would be at ease.
It still stands to reason that no social advantage is gained by doing so. No guaranteed social advantage, anyway.
Those are personal justifications. The particular justification that claims that you are no different in your inaction than the actual perpetrator is nonsensical at best and victim blame-y at worst. Enabling something can not be factually or even legally compared to actively causing it.
It’s a belief that exists to encourage heroic behavior. The intention behind it is kind, but there’s a reason why in court an eye witness with the capacity to stop a murder is not convicted of anything.
In the case of the bullied kid, the society in question is whatever school you are at, and the consequences of not adhering are not as serious as in real life. What about defending a target of heavy societal discrimination? Sure, your conscience can be at ease, but its more likely that you’d only gain silent respect. What use is respect that has no physical manifestation?
Well, I would personally make an attempt to save the kid if it were within my ability. I would not risk my own life to do so, though, and I would certainly think myself irrational for beating myself up over not saving them if I couldn’t help it.
If someone dropped a pencil or wallet next to me, but they sped by and I am really late to a class (or some other important thing), I would probably either leave it there or take it with me and return it later. Taking it with me might look awkward to passersby, though, so I’d either have to sacrifice whatever was on my schedule or give it back to the person.
