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Eun Young Jeon

A Good Person without Believing in God Eun Young Jeon Escuela Internacional Sampedrana

Abstract A roman philosopher, Seneca, said that “No one is good without God, and no one can rise above fortune without help from God” (Beck, S.). Many philosophers have refuted this and proved against showing the various ways in which human beings were good without the existence of a super natural power, God. Virtue ethicist, such as Alasdair Macintyre, has said that humans can be good if they have the good virtue; “the qualities for virtue depend on culture, place and time in history. In other words, the intelligibility of an action depends on the narrative continuities in an agent's life” (Stanley, H. 2007). Existentialist, such as Jean-Paul Sartre or Friedrich Nietzsche, believed that people can be good if they recognize the responsibility and freedom according to their decisions. Some philosophers have also said that since moral perceptions are divine laws that people follow them as a mere obedience. Susan Neiman and Julian Baggini, prove d that “behaving ethically only because of divine mandate is not true ethical behavior but merely blind obedience” (//Beyond Belief Session 6//, 2006). Whether or not one can be a good person solely depends on his or her value, and not at all on a certain belief such as God or a supreme being. //Keywords: //virtue ethicist, existentialist, moral perceptions, divine laws, Supreme Being.          A Good Person without Believing in God Can you be a good person without believing in God? Human beings have considered many alternatives to consider a person ‘good.’ Everybody can be or become a good person because even atheists can be good human beings. According to most dictionaries, good is defined as morally excellent; virtuous; righteous; pious. This definition doesn’t imply that one has <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">to believe in God to be good. Famous authors such as Greg Epstein and Richard Dawkins prove that they are almost certain that there is no super natural creator therefore one can be good without the existence of this super natural creator. Virtue ethics is primarily concerned with traits of character that are essential to human flourishing, not with the enumeration of duties. They say that a good person is one who believes and acts according to the good virtues or what they consider a good character. Existentialism is a “term applied to the work of a number <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, generally held that the focus of philosophical thought should be to deal with the conditions of existence of the individual person and their emotions, actions, responsibilities, and thoughts” (Ted Honderich, 1995). Existentialists define the characteristics of a good person as those who make individual moral choices and takes responsibility for themselves. Moral perceptions are considered as divine law: Divine law is any law (or rule) that in the opinion of believers comes directly from the will of God. A person can be good without the need of god because human beings can be considered a good person without believing in God. Virtue ethicists say that a good person is one who has good virt ue, existentialists believe one to be good if he or she recognizes the responsibility and freedom, and some say that since moral perceptions are divine laws, following these laws are mere blind obedience. Some philosophers, such as Seneca refuted this saying that “No one is good without God, and no one can rise above fortune without help from God” (Beck, S.). <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Moral perceptions are just divine laws that require a divine lawmaker; therefore some people behave ethically only because it is the divine law. Susan Neiman and Julian Baggini are philosophers who prove <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">d that “behaving ethically only because of divine mandate is not true ethical behavior but merely blind obedience” (//Beyond Belief Session 6//, 2006). The role of a superior power is unnecessary to judge something good or bad; “encapsulated in Plato's Euthyphro Dilemma that the role of the gods in determining right from wrong is either unnecessary or arbitrary” (Smith, 1979). “The contemporary British political philosopher Martin Cohen has offered the more historically telling example of Biblical injunctions in favour of torture and slavery as evidence of how religious injunctions follow political and social customs, rather than vice versa” (Cohen, M. 2007). People can rely on moral perceptions, which are divine laws, to act good just because a superior power has made it. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">On the other hand, Christians believe that human beings can’t judge people, only God. Human beings can’t be considered as good people without believing in God because God is the only perfectly ethical person. “Jesus Christ is the only perfectly ethical person. He is the perfect man, always making right choices, and to believe him to be flawed is to abandon Christianity completely” (Rushman, W. 2000 ). <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">People can be good without God because what makes a good person, according to virtue ethics, is a virtuous person. Virtue ethics is known as an approach to ethics that takes the notion <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">of virtue (often conceived as excellence) as fundamental. According to the virtue ethicists, a good person is one who can make rational decisions because he/she has the good character which helps he/she “regulate their emotions and their reason” (Cline, A.). According to Alasdair MacIntyre, “the qualities for virtue depend on culture, place and time in history. In other words, the intelligibility of an action depends on the narrative continuities in an agent's life” (Stanley, H. 2007). Ancient Greeks said that a good person would act in a rational way. “According to Aristotle, when people acquire good habits of character, they are better able to regulate their emotions and their reason. This, in turn, helps us reach morally correct decisions when we are faced with difficult choices” (Austin, C. 2009). <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Some might contradict virtue ethicists because what define a good person are the good virtues but for every different person, a good virtue varies. “One person’s virtue may be another person’s vice and a vice in one set of circumstances may be a virtue in another” (Austin, C. 2009). A <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Good person could be one that acts properly but to others good might just be a charitable person. <span style="color: red; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">A good person, according to existentialists, is one who makes individual moral choices and takes responsibility for them. The 19th century German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, said that people should make their own moral choices rather than accepting the values of the majority because universal values are disappearing. Jean-Paul Sartre, the best known existentialist, believed that life is absurd and that we are condemned to be free. A good person, according to existentialists, is one who recognizes his or her freedom and responsibility. Both of the philosophers mentioned above, rejected the view of God, so being a good person has no relation to any particular belief. Augustine of Hippo said that <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">"inasmuch as we exist we are good" (Knight, K. 2008). <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Some religious people, such as the Catholics believe that they need a Supreme Being, God, to show us what a good person is exactly. The definition of good person may vary, but according to God, it’s just one. “The Bible says that God is good, and the Ten Commandments are His standard of goodness” (Ray, C. 2003). Catholics would argue that since good can only be defined by God, people who don’t believe in God can’t be proved as a good person, just as a charitable person. “In Letter 41 Seneca mentioned the divine spirit that is near you, with you, and inside you. No one is good without God, and no one can rise above fortune without help from God” (Beck, S.). <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">In //Good Without God//, Greg Epstein says that “Humanism teaches us that we can lead good and moral lives without supernaturalism, without higher powers. . . without God” (Epstein, G. 2009). One can be good without the existence of a super naturalistic existence. In //The God Delusion,// Richard Dawkins, known as a British ethologist or evolutionary biologist, states that “a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that belief in a personal god qualifies as a delusion” (Dawkins, R. 2007). Dawkins defines the delusion as a “persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence” (Dawkins, R. 2007). Greg Epstein and Richard Dawkins both support the idea that humans can be good without the existence of God. On the other hand, Seneca, the Roman philosopher, would refute by stating that “No one is good without God, and no one can rise above fortune without help from God” (Beck, S.). Even though many philosophers have argued about the existence of God, we will never be certain of it. As Dawkins says, he “almost certainly” believes that a supernatural creator doesn’t exist, but he doesn’t say that he certainly believes. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Can goodness only be defined by God? Existentialists, virtue ethicists and atheists have proved that people can be good without believing in God or any other supreme being. According to virtue ethicist, one is considered a ‘good person’ if he or she has good virtue or good character. Existentialists state that, one is considered a good person if he or she knows one’s responsibility and freedom. Some believe that just because some rules are known as divine laws, one should follow them blindly. We can still be a good person without believing in God. Greg Epstein and Richard Dawkins state that humans can be good without the existence of God because they are almost certain that there is no super natural creator. Some might argue against this saying that only God can make rational decisions because he is a supreme being, the most rational person. Especially the Roman philosopher, Seneca, argued that one can’t be good without God. Ask yourself, are you good person because of your religion or are you good because of the other facts mentioned above. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Whether or not someone is a good person solely depends on that person's values, virtues, level of integrity and morality, and not at all on a certain belief such as God or a supreme being. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">References <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">1947, t. e., fiction, C. e., reprinted, p. h., & Caligula, h. n. 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