Why be good?

Answer 1

When you ask this question, you may notice the necessity of goodness to exist. You may worry that, if there is no reason for it, no one would do good or be a civic individual. So, first, Do good because somebody have to do it for it to exist. And if it doesn't exist, then all that is left is bad. And that's "bad"- So In a sense, you do good for many non-altruistic reasons, and you hope that others would follow your actions, imitating or praising them, or at least recognizing how is your social behavior. In the end goodness becomes like a sport, with some people willing to rescue others and give their life so that in their mind that sense of "I belong to the G-team" stays undead (is a psychological issue, there is not necessarily a rationale that can be translated to real economic or acceptance gain). Socially, good is to have certain rules (reactive, proactive and restrictive rules). In that context, good evolved to keep a sense of control for a social species to develop more resources and benefits. Yet, since humans has more capacity for "individuality", such a question may come. In this case, we do good using reason. You can be good because it is easier for you, and /or others to behave like that, or because you may gain more (be it money, acceptance, prestige, love, beauty, originality, etc.). But not everybody does it for rational reasons- some people simply like it to have it nice with others (they learn it). Religious belief, fear to commit crime, fear of a God, or sense of commitment with a nation or humanity, are all real reasons that some people use to behave nice, yet they are not philosophical reasons in nature. Philosophically speaking, the jury it's out. But it seems everyone agree on one thing- we need to behave good if we want to gain the best out of communication, language reason and society as a whole. So in a sence, being good pays, at least on average. Special circumstances still can be a true dilemma , but the usual stuff (don't kill Innocent people, don't steal was is clearly not yours, treat others as the you would like to be treated, etc.) are, luckily not part of those special cases. This answers doesn't deal with other specific dilemmas, like "euthanasia" or "abortion", "monogamy" or "gay rights" because those are... well... "dilemmas" and more case needs to be done to prove how right or wrong these things are. Yet, if someone can't see that raping a little 8 years girl is wrong, serious help that person needs. In that case, if we cannot say it's wrong, a whole nation's daughters might be in such an emotional or physical threat and harm- much more than today's risk- and believe me, Parents don't want that. Hope I help (Sorry, long answer, but this profound question requires it).