unspeakablehorror | Being Good or Evil Isn't Possible

Though I often find it difficult to articulate, I think the model of ethics where individuals are 'good' or 'bad' people is fundamentally flawed. I think people spend a lot of time worrying that they're a 'bad' person, or 'evil'.

I don't think that matters, and I think the anguish about it is largely unproductive. I don't think feeling bad about something tends to lead to people trying to correct the flawed action. I think a lot of times, it either leads to people sinking into depression and inactivity or 'fixing' the issue by deciding that the decision wasn't bad after all. Either way, the actual problem is not addressed. I also think that a lot of the time, the things people feel most bad about are not the things that actually need to be addressed, but rather things that society unjustly persecutes them for, such as how they were born, their personal appearance, or what they choose to do with their own body. For all these reasons, I just don't think stewing in guilt and shame is very helpful.

At the same time, I think the choices we make matter a lot. Because I think particular decisions can be good or evil. But I think the most important tools for ethics are a willingness to analyze the effects of our actions, and a willingness to try do what we can to correct them, not guilt or shame, and certainly not the complacency of believing we are 'a good person'. It's not possible to 'be' a good or evil person because good and evil aren't states of being, they are a consequence of ever changing actions. Better then to speak about doing good or evil.