Why Should I Be Good?

Why be good? Because the consequences of doing good are more favorable than those of not being good. This can be seen no matter how we interpret the meaning of ‘being good’. For children, being good means obeying one’s parents. By being good we gain parental approval and avoid punishment.

Extending this to the social norms of one’s community, being good means being a good citizen. As such we gain the approval and avoid the scorn of those whose opinions matter to us, not to mention avoiding fines and jail sentences.

To a more mature mind, being good might mean obeying the dictates of one’s conscience, an internal voice which judges our actions as right or wrong, as worthy of one’s own approval or disapproval. By being good we gain a sense of uprightness, of rectitude, and we avoid feeling guilt and shame.
Further reflection leads us to wonder where the voice of conscience comes from and what the justification is for what that voice tells us. We find ourselves with a sense of duty and wonder who or what imposes that duty. Many believe that God defines the moral rules and imposes the sense of duty. God is thus a surrogate parent, and by being good we gain divine reward and (we hope) avoid divine punishment.

Kant alleged that the dictates of pure reason impose the duty to act so that the principles on which we act could be universalized without contradiction. For a rational being, contradiction is certainly unfavorable.

Others postulate an unseen world of moral values not unlike Plato’s world of Forms, which the moral sense somehow apprehends. The consequences of doing one’s duty on this view are a sense of being in harmony with moral reality, of being virtuous and worthy of approval, whether or not anyone actually approves.

All these meanings of ‘being good’ involve obeying moral rules. In another sense, to be good means to be of benefit to someone or something. By being of benefit to other people and to our environment we can create a surrounding in which everyone flourishes, including ourselves. Whether we succeed depends on our skill in choosing actions that have good consequences. In any sense of ‘being good’, consequences are of utmost importance.

I look forward to your comments