How does one who does not believe in God define what is good?

Daniel Marsh

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How does one who does not believe in God define what is good?

Romans 2:15
Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)
 

Pavel Mosko

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When I was an agnostic I had some kind of basic idea of the Hippocratic Oath of "Do No Harm". Kind of a Utilitarian version of that.

Their also were notions of altruism based on psychology, the social sciences, philosophy and pop culture.
 
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Speedwell

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How does one who does not believe in God define what is good?

Romans 2:15
Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)
If the law is "written in our hearts" then it doesn't matter if we believe in God or not.
 
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Maria Billingsley

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How does one who does not believe in God define what is good?

Romans 2:15
Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)
We are all born in the image of God. Within that image is some goodness.
Be blessed.
 
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PloverWing

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"How do we determine/discern what is good?" is the focus of ethics, as a branch of philosophical study. Many theories have been put forth over the years. Some define ethics according to the commands of a creator, but many others do not. The Wikipedia article (Ethics - Wikipedia) lists some of the prominent theories and philosophers.
 
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Clizby WampusCat

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How does one who does not believe in God define what is good?

Romans 2:15
Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)
We use reason and logic to decide what is good in a particular situation. Not all will agree but most people have some form of well being as a start.
 
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Ken-1122

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How does one who does not believe in God define what is good?
As an atheist I define what I believe to be good by using morality.
What are morality? I define morality as the ability to understand the consequences of actions and how they affect me and my neighbor. And it starts from the position that what is helpful for me and my neighbor is good, and what is harmful to me and my neighbor is bad.

IMO if you are unable to understand the above mentioned traits on your own, but must receive instructions from a perceived authority on how to be moral, you aren't being moral; you're being obedient.
Any person who must receive instructions from God in order to be moral, is nothing more than an immoral person who is good at following instructions. I'm better than that; I think all of us are even though some of us may not realize it.
 
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Jane_the_Bane

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How does one who does not believe in God define what is good?
The witty answer would be: "the same way as anybody else."
But that doesn't really get across what you want to hear.

"Goodness" isn't random, but it IS inter-subjective insofar as a community can define totally random, ethically neutral acts as either good or immoral.

In general, though, people have a pretty solid grasp on what is good in broader categories. We derive that ability from countless ancestors who cooperated with each other as a social species.
Long before we acquired the ability to understand symbols, our distant relations were already reacting positively to pro-social behaviour. You can observe it in other, decidedly less intelligent species.

It's the random stuff cultures and religions have been conflating with morality that generates problems.
Is a woman leaving home without covering her hair immoral?
What about her breasts? Must they be covered at all times in public?
What about male breasts? Or breast feeding?

Since people identify so strongly with cultural/religious norms, they really feel that the random stuff is just as much of a violation as, say, taking what isn't yours or hurting somebody against their will.
 
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essentialsaltes

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You'll find that they have many different definitions, and are often opposed to each other about them.

Just like people who do believe in gods.
 
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The happy Objectivist

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How does one who does not believe in God define what is good?

Romans 2:15
Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

I define the "good" in the same way I define all concepts, i.e., in terms of essential characteristics.

The good is that which is objectively life-affirming. The good is that which supports the life of a rational being as opposed to the bad or that which is life-destroying. It's really not all that difficult if one has a good theory of concepts.
 
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MehGuy

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I guess my unofficial motto would be "treat others as they treat me". Somewhat different to "treating others how I want to be treated". If someone treats me like garbage I have no qualms treating them like garbage in return. My mind really shuts off all traces of sympathy for another at that point. Even if the person apologizes. If someone is kind to me it can be the opposite and I can become quite sensitive to not offending them. Maybe even going overboard in both directions at times.

As far as what is good, it's subjective. Although there are evolutionary reasons for morality and empathy. Personally I would not say they're all good. Empathy is loaded with evolutionarily baggage like bias and over indulgence. The path for everyone is not going to be the same. As a member of the sex that is less neotenous on average, sadly we have to be more cut throat and stand up for ourselves because others won't. Something many men in my generation need to start learning. Our problems are not going to have the same emotional impact as women's do. Therefore it shouldn't be expected that we act the same. Nor should men feel guilty for being a little more "hard" because of it.

Not everyone has the privilege of thinking things will get better if everyone just tried to be nice and love one another as a whole.
 
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Gene2memE

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As an athiest, I define good as that which improves the wellbeing of thinking creatures, or reduces the harm to them.

There's a wider meta ethical normative framework work under pinning that, but the basic principle is that I am a thinking creature and it most benefits me to have my wellbeing improved and have any harm reduced.
 
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Strathos

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As an athiest, I define good as that which improves the wellbeing of thinking creatures, or reduces the harm to them.

There's a wider meta ethical normative framework work under pinning that, but the basic principle is that I am a thinking creature and it most benefits me to have my wellbeing improved and have any harm reduced.

What's an 'athiest'?
 
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