What does it mean to be good? Who determines what is good? Why are some things good and others aren’t? Even the most famed philosophers have struggled to determine a singular definition of what it means to be good. Philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, and Immanuel Kant all have very different definitions for the word good and all that it entails.
Different philosophers have different definitions of the term good. However, they all come back to the same theme. Aristotle’s “Nicomachean Ethics” uses the word eudaemonia to name the highest form of human good. For he believes that goodness is an end in itself rather than a means towards an end. Plato’s The Republic defines the word with his forms of goodness. The true definition is not clear, rather a suggestion that justice, truth, equality, and beauty are all things of goodness. Meanwhile, Immanuel Kant says that “the only thing that is good without qualification is goodwill,” and that “all other candidates for an intrinsic good have problems.” Anything and everything that is done with an underlying benefit can not be qualified as good for it is not selfless. Within the book It was Good; Making Art to the Glory of God, we learn that the word good or goodness can be applied in three separate ways; goodness of creation, goodness in redemption, and the goodness of the providence. With four different ideas of what goodness is or could be defined as it seems as though it may be easier to define what the word good does not include.
The opposite of good is evil. Evil is a parasite, it latches onto a host and survives at their expense. Once a parasite has anchored itself, the host has been tainted. C.S. Lewis uses the word bent to establish a common definition that includes anything that has been warped, broken, tainted, or altered but can be restored once again. St. Augustine developed the answer to what is evil, claiming that evil is not something that exists rather an absence of something that ought to exist. It is a lack or defect in something that does exist.
Perhaps the most graphic definition of evil is “a state of goodness that has been bent.” C.S. Lewis’s “Out of the Silent Planet” uses the phrase “bent one” to name Lucifer. When I read this terminology, the concept of evil comes to life much more clearly. I am reminded of the different aspects of my life that are “bent.” If good is straight and narrow, then evil is the bent and contorted; they are then considered opposites. Although St. Augustine does claim that evil does not exist but is rather the absence of something, evil as the “bent” is a definition that holds evil as something that does exist. I am inclined to agree with the definition. The reasoning behind the argument is found in Lewis’s idea that evil can be redeemed and turned into good. I once met a lady that told me that if the fallen angel Lucifer would only ask God for forgiveness and make right his wrongs, then God would forgive him and return him from his fallen status. Imagine that! The evilest power in the universe has only to asks the best power in the universe for forgiveness and he can be forgiven for his “bentness.” Sadly, Lucifer will never have the humility to ask for forgiveness, which will ultimately doom him for eternity. Since it was pride that caused him to fall, it will be pride that is his demise. However, it stands as a lesson that even the evilest thing can be redeemed to goodness. In C.S. Lewis’s words, the bent can become restored. This definition of good and evil is much more uplifting and hopeful, not condemning the evil or the doer of evil to an eternity of evil. In other words, evil has the chance to become good. Genesis 50:20 sums this idea up perfectly with the words of Joseph to his brothers. He states this exact scenario saying, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
To better understand what is good, we need concrete examples of “good” in our lives. One specific example of something good is the concept of truth. Absolute truth can be defined as good because in a day-to-day sense it helps us understand life. However, in a more theological sense of the word, it is good because it meets the qualifications of something good according to philosophers Plato and Aristotle. As mentioned before, Aristotle claims that goodness is the end rather than a means to an end. Since truth is an end, the truth must be good. This meets Aristotle’s disjunctive reasoning criteria in which if A=B and B=C then A=B. The most common example of this is the “if man is mortal and Aristotle is a man, then Aristotle is mortal.” The same criteria apply to the truth. If truth is an end and an end is good, then the truth is good.
Plato’s definition is much more plainly stated in that he simply claims that truth is goodness. Plato also claims that justice, beauty, and equality are good things. I would argue that these all have components of truth. In our HUMA classes, we learned that beauty and truth go hand in hand. Furthermore, our professors ingrained in us that these things were good. Therefore, when we find beauty, truth, justice, and equality in our day to day lives, we are actively seeing examples of good.
Aristotle, Rackham, H., & Watt, S. (1996). The Nicomachean ethics. Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth.
Bustard, N. (2006). It was good: Making art to the glory of God. Baltimore, MD: Square Halo Books.
Lewis, C. S. (2005). Out of the silent planet. Harpercollins.