How do you define ''a good person'' ?

I've always seen good and evil as more ones motivations then ones accomplishments. One can mean well, while causing countless people to suffer, and while I may not approve who am I to have the right to say that they are bad or wrong. Just the same one may set out to cause someone pain, and bring joy to many others, but can they justifiably be called good?

It all has to do with choices Blue Eyes. I wont go deep into religious rants but with religion aside we are all free. we have the freedom to choose what we want to do. We choose on what to wear or what to do or say and even how to treat people. There is a saying that says "Actions speak louder than words". This is like the Golden Rule "Treat others how you wanted to be treated". Some people have been raised differently were right and wrong may be obstructed but deep down in the human heart a persons actions show there character. It also plays with integrity as well. If someone drops there books and you think I should help but you walk off instead then your actions dictate that you are selfish and not selfless. being a truly good person is to be as selfless and caring as possible. You can tell how people are judging by how they act or their actions. I can see it sometimes. This never defines someone as pure evil but you can tell a lot about a person by the way act.

seeing as "good and evil" depend on the persons point of view rather then societies...I shall share my view as per your question <3. To me a good person, is one who views the world as a place where everything in it is a wonderful thing and is focused on enjoying life as well as trying to help others enjoy just as much as they do. an "evil" person is one who KNOWINGLY wishes to cause harm to others through action or inaction. They may not have specific goals, albeit some do. That being said someone who is good is capable of doing evil in order to preserve/further expand peace, and vice versa :S...

Subjective and Objective morality aside, not really, good and evil is based on the society (the species group) and the individual. In my freshman year of University my class was asked a question; "There is a man drowning in the water, another man happens by at the time. He is a champion swimmer, but he does nothing and watches him drown. Is he a good man or an evil man?" Now thoughts are going of in your head, one by society and another by the individual. The society (the species) main weapon of survival is social interaction. Always do what is beneficial to the group, whatever harms the group must be culled. By societies standards he is automatically evil because he did not use his skills to preserve a member of the group. As an individual the result may differ. When a man is drowning he is not calm, he is going to be thrashing and clinging on to anything to keep him afloat. It is possible that if he went to save the man his life could have been in danger and they both could have died. Also this mans life is not his responsibility nor is it any easier to place a blame or criminal charge on the passerby for the death of this man. As I see it the individual thinks about a situation and what is beneficial or not to the individual. The group's thought process are for results beneficial or not for the group, even if it hurts an individual as long as the group benefits from it e.g capital punishment or imprisonment. Another example of gray area between good and bad is War. War is good for the group when it will yield benefits like resources but bad when the loss of lives out weight the pay off from the resources. Psycho is correct in what he says, one can mean well but do harm. For example, and this is going to be hard to stomach, Hitler. Hitler, when it came to his group of people, the German people, he did what he thought was beneficial to them, one of them being the extinction of another group of people in the process. Hitler was a hero for a time and if he had won the war whose to say he would not still be a hero. In conclusion, my hypothesis is that the individuals are the main source for why a society changes when it that individual gains enough influence. That being said I judge good and bad not by results, but by what is said and then what is done. I am a follower of the "do what you preach school." No hypocrites allowed! If you say one thing and do another then are you not a liar? Treat others as how you would like to be treated, by actions and words. Keep on Keeping on my friends.