What Is Goodness?
A philosophical inquiry into the meaning of goodness.
What does it mean to say that something is good?
This is a simple question. But the answer is far from that. It’s a question moral philosophers have grappled with for centuries. How do we make sense of utterances such as “He is a good person,” “This is a good book,” and the repetitive phrase that comes up in Genesis, “And God saw that it was good”?
We use “good” every day. “Good morning,” “Good luck,” “Good day,” … but what do we really mean when we utter these things?
It is in the interest of moral philosophy to adequately and accurately define the meaning of goodness. This is important because the meanings of goodness set the foundation for an ethical theory. The branch of ethics interested in the meaning of goodness is called value theory.
Consequentialists, for example, think that goodness is defined as the right action. That is, whatever is good is also right; It is good if and only if we ought to do it.
Deontologists, on the other hand, think that goodness is defined by our reasons to do something. If we have reasons to pursue X, then X is good.
We need not appeal to any moral theory to understand why moral beliefs must be grounded on a theory of value. Values guide…