The Healthy Management of Reality - Stanford University

The concept of "the good"One of the most useful ideas that human beings have formulated throughouttheir development has been the concept of "the good." Many believe the conceptof the good is too controversial to serve as rallying point. I disagree.Part of the reason some people see this concept as problematic is becausereasonable people sometimes disagree dramatically on what is good. This is in partbecause the concept encompasses many complexities. It can refer to that which isphysically good for us, as well as that which is morally good. Something thattastes good can be bad for us. Something that is good for some segment of thecommunity may be achieved by exploiting another segment.One of the reasons the concept of "the good" has come under suspicion isthat many groups throughout history have appropriated it to justify their selfservingactions. Thus, many religious and political movements defined themselvesas being "good" and all others as "bad." Their supposed moral superiority thenallowed them to criticize, oppress, persecute, and even physically attack othergroups. The fear, then, is that those who think they are good are likely to want toimpose their beliefs on the rest, thus taking away their personal liberty.Thus, "the good" has been identified with religious and political ideologies.The result has been that those who do not belong to these groups prefer not to usethis term, and those who do belong to such groups tend to define "the good" onlyaccording to what their own belief systems teach them.But "the good" is a higher concept than those of specific religious orpolitical beliefs. Religious, political, and other philosophies of life each strive todefine and practice what is good. Thus, they can be seen as tools to reach thegood. They can be judged according to whether the consequences of followingtheir teachings result in actual good. Few Catholics would defend the Inquisition.HMOR.July2005.Muñoz.doc 26