Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Is there a difference...

...between trying not to be a bad person and trying to be a good person?
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1 comment:

Unknown said...

We need to use a bit of Logic here and we are missing one important variable: What is the natural state of humans? Do we start out Good, Bad, or some form of neither (Neutral)?
I believe humans are born Good so I will answer using that variable. Being born Good, then Good is not something it takes an action to become, by simply being there is Goodness. So to 'try' to be Good does not work, it is more that we allow ourselves to be our natural state (a difficult task in itself). We don't try to be what we naturally are, we can try to become something else or try not to become something else.
That we start out Good means that we try not to do things which would give us the qualities of being Bad. So trying to be Good is out and it is simply that we try not to be Bad. They are different because with Goodness being the missing variable of our natural state the questions "Do we try to be Good?" is a flawed one.
Now, if we change the unknown variable to humans naturally being Bad then the question works. If we start out Bad then we can take the action of 'trying' to become something different than what we are (Good), and we can also try to not be the thing what we are (try not to be Bad). These are not the same in this equation, because while in the former we are trying to be a specific thing (Good) in the latter we are only trying to be "not Bad" presumably there could be something other than Good that we could be.
Finally, using the variable of Neutral, we start in a state where we can take action to become either Good or Bad. In the question 'Is trying to be Good and trying not to be Bad the same', we have similar circumstances as starting with the state of being Bad. You can try to become Good or you can try to not be Bad (though in this case there is still presumably something other than Good you could be, at least in this question).
So, to answer your question, Yes, they are different but in what way depends on the unknown variable.

December 30, 2009 at 10:03 AM

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