Ethics

What is a definition of good and also what would a definition of evil or bad be?

Comments

There's a good bit (pardon the pun) of variation in definitions of good, but I think what most of them will reduce to is, "That for the sake of which...". A good is an end, or goal, chosen for its own sake, and other things are "good" insofar as they tend toward such an end.

"Bad" or "evil" is sometimes defined as the contrary of good; sometimes as whatever is inconsistent with good; sometimes (as in the medieval Christian philosophers, notably Augustine) as the absence of good.

At the turn of the last century, G.E. Moore famously argued that the word "good" can'tbe defined. Goodness, according to Moore, is simple and (hence) undefinable.The same might be true of the word "value" and its cognates.

Of course, there are some definitions that promise to be relatively uncontroversial. We mightsay, for example, that something is good if, and only if, it is worth pursuing or promoting. Alternatively, we might say that something is good if, and only if, we have a reason to pursue or promote or desire it. Both of these definitions are at least prima facieplausible, but they are also rather uninformative. By asserting that "xis good means the same as "x is worth pursuing," we have merelysubstituted one phrase in need of definition for another. That is, theterms "worth" and "reason" seem to be just as mysterious asthe word they are supposed to replace: "good."

This suggests that we need to look for a more substantivedefinition. Moore, however, claimed that more substantive definitionsof the word"good" all fail for a simple reason: it remains an "open question"whetherthe property named in the definition really is good. Forexample, suppose I assert that "x is good for A" means the same as "Adesires x." Moore's observation was that this definition cannot becorrect, since we can intelligibly ask whether what A desires really is good for A.Yet if "x is good for A" just meant the same as "A desires x," thiswould not be an open or intelligible question at all. That is, it wouldbe as unintelligible as asking whether all bachelors really areunmarried.

The upshot of all this is that your search for a definition of the word "good" may be vain.

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