Can+you+be+a+good+person+without+believing+in+God?++--+Rough+Draft

Type in the content of your page here. Eun Young Jeon's Essay Rough Draft Having your name here would be a real help. Try putting in a title page. 1268955307

** 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 a good person (be good persons) (good people) (redundant, choice of words) (too much repetition, try to use synonyms) According to most dictionaries, good is defined as morally excellent; virtuous; righteous; pious. This definition doesn’t imply that one have (has, omit have) to believe in God to be good. 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. (just to think about: what if they have a wrong perception and consider themselves to have a good character, but it's bad to society?) (Make a smooth transition before this sentence -->) Existentialism is a “term applied to the work of a number of [|19th-] and [|20th-century philosophers] who, despite profound doctrinal differences,[|[1]][|[2]] (erase these symbols) 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 them (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. __Human beings can be considered as__ __ (omit as) a good person without believing in God. Virtue ethicists say that a good person is one who has good virtue, __ __existentialists believe one to be good is he or she recognizes the responsibility (fix grammar)__ __and freedom, and some say that since moral perceptions are divine laws, following these laws are mere blind obedience.__ (Run-on) (Is this your thesis statement? I see its underlined. If it is not, where is your thesis statement? your position? It seems to me you are only listing/talking about other philosophies; include or add to a sentence saying: ........a person can be good without the need to believe in God)

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 d that “behaving ethically only because of divine mandate is not true ethical behavior but merely blind obedience” (//Beyond Belief Session 6//, 2006). (very good citation!) 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). On the other hand, Christians believe that human beings can’t judge people, only God. Human beings can’t be considered as (omit as) ("can't be considered as good people' sounds better) a good person without believing in God because god (capitalize "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 ).

People can be good without god (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 of virtue (copy and pasted it? because od the icons I mean) (often conceived as excellence) as fundamental. According to the Virtue (lower case "Virtue") ethicists, a good person is one who can make rational decisions because they have (he/she has, omit 'they have') the good character which helps them (he/she, omit 'they') “regulate their emotions and their reason.” (<-- cite this source!) According to Alasdair MacIntyre, “the qualities for virtue depend on culture, place and time in history” (Stanley, H. 2007). “In other words, the intelligibility of an action depends on the narrative continuities in an agent's life.” (Stanley, H. 2007) (you can unite this two sentences in one complete citation) According (try to use a synonym of "according" since you start with the same word in the next sentence, sounds repetitive) to ancient Greek s (Either Greeks or Greek people/ideas), 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). Some might contradict virtue ethicists because what define (defines) a good person are the good virtues but for every different person, a good virtue might be different. ( word choice) “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) Good (person) could be one that acts properly but to others good might just be a charitable person. (Are these sentences connected to the previous paragraph? Or are they the start of a new idea? If they present a new idea, the idea should be further expanded) (this sounds like your counter arguments, EXPAND)

A good person according to existentialists  is one who makes individual moral choices and takes responsibility for them. According (again, the word according twice in the same line) to the 19th century, German philosopher, (don't include things that are known as common knowledge) Friedrich Nietzsche, 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, (don't include things that are known as common knowledge) (missing verb: believed/ said/ stated ...) 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 had (has, omit 'had') no relation to any particular belief. Human beings have to have a Supreme Being, God, to show us what a good person is exactly. The definition of good person may vary, but according to god, (capitalize 'god') it’s just one. (You are contradicting yourself by saying that human beings have to have a supreme God to show a good person; shouldn't it be Catholics, or another religious group? Remember that you are advocating for being a good person without the belief of God) “The Bible says that [|God] is good, and the [|Ten Commandments] are His standard of goodness” (Ray, C. 2003).

Can goodness only be defined by God? The answer to this is no and the paragraphs above prove this to be correct. (eliminate this sentence and subsitute it by another one, we read what your previous paragraphs say, try to start the paragraph not so directly.) (WC) Existentialists, virtue ethicists and atheists have proved that people can be good without believing in God or any other supreme being. (<-- this is a better starting sentence) According to virtue ethicist, one is considered a ‘good person’ if he or she has good virtue or good character. According to the existentialists, 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 lays (laws, omit lays), one should follow them blindly. These reasons prove why (<--eliminate this) (start sentence here-->) we can still be a good person without believing in God. Some might argue against this saying that only God can make rational decisions because he is a supreme being, the most rational person. Ask yourself, are you good person because of your religion or are you good because of the other facts mentioned above. (avoid saying..."mentioned above" too much) (you can use this as final sentence, sounds better: 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.)

Reference: 1947, t. e., fiction, C. e., reprinted, p. h., & Caligula, h. n. (n.d.). Existentialism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. //Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. Retrieved March 6, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism Cline, A. (n.d.). Virtue Ethics: Morality and Character - What Are Virtue Ethics?. //Agnosticism / Atheism - Free Inquiry, Skepticism, Atheism, Religious Philosophy//. Retrieved March 6, 2010, from http://atheism.about.com/od/ethicalsystems/a/virtueethics.htm Comfort, R. (n.d.). Are you a GOOD person? - ChristianAnswers.Net. //Christian AnswersÂ® Networkâ„¢ (ChristianAnswers.Net): Multilingual answers, reviews, ministry resources, and more! [Home]//. Retrieved March 6, 2010, from http://www.christiananswers.net/gospel/goodperson.html Divine law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). //Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. Retrieved March 6, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_law Hauerwas, S. (n.d.). The Virtues of Alasdair MacIntyre | First Things. //Home | First Things//. Retrieved March 6, 2010, from http://www.firstthings.com/article/2007/09/004-the-virtues-of-alasdair-macintyre-6 Rushman, W. (2000). Right and Wrong in Christian Context. //White Stone Journal//, //1//, 13. Solum., L. (n.d.). Virtue ethics: Definition from Answers.com. //Answers.com: Wiki Q&A combined with free online dictionary, thesaurus, and encyclopedias//. Retrieved March 6, 2010, from http://www.answers.com/topic/virtue-ethics  Many of your peers made good comments to help you fix up your paper. The attached document at the top did not have your list of sources at the end. You should also consider using some of the 'big' names in this topic: Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett are two that come to mind. You can find all sorts of info and arguments by them online. One questions I have is who actually argues that individuals cannot truly be good without God? In other words, what reputable, expert in the field takes that position? Can you find someone like that and then use that source? It would add credibility to your paper and make your position stronger.1268969346

I think you have a very good essay. To improve it you should focus on your grammar. I really like that you had a lot of convincing evidence as well as proof to support your arguments. Try working on your sentence structure and grammar though. Well done. :) - Janelle Andonie

Nice essay! It's neatly written .... But!!! I think you should link your essay to the rough draft page.... Check your edline if you have a grade for your rough draft! " [|**TeachPhilosophy**] Why'd I get a zero? 6 people haven't added a ruff draft to the wiki, or they didn't link it on the rough draft page! Can't grade u w/o that!"(from Mr.Schult's twitter) Go to the left and look for "Rough Draft" page and link it, the instructions are there...1268791646

Comment: This is a very interesting topic for an essay and its hard to look for support for it but i think you still need some more support for your main ideas. There is also some repetition that you should omit so that it doesn't repeat that much. Your conclusion should recapitulate on your whole essay and i think you should work on it. 1268794576

I think that you did a good job, like Pablo said, at avoiding being biased. I also believe that you could shorten your thesis to a more compact state, remember that sometimes a few words say more than enough. You could also improve on your sentence fluency to make the reader feel like he goes from one subject to the next without any bumps along the road. Overall though, your essay was very clean and to the point without much superfluous material. 1268870407

You were very bold in choosing a topic as this hard, I'm impressed. Sometimes you contradict yourself in your statements and have grammatical errors. Have someone read you your essay out loud to see identify them better. Also, your diction is very redundant. You repeat a lot of terms very frequently and this makes the reader divagate a bit and not focus. Also, it makes it monotonous. You use words such as "according" to often. A good way to avoid redundancy is to look for synonyms or rephrase the sentences. Your sources are very good, they contribute to your position and are specific, giving your essay credibility and evidence. However, try to expand on these to make your delivery more complete. Also, your counter arguments paragraph needs to be greatly improved. Expand on your thoughts and give more examples. Give real-life situation examples, this makes the essay more interesting. Keep it up and good luck. 1268803209