In Response to Austin Bodzioch (2/25/10)

Q:"If there was one ultimate truth and goodness, do you think that there would be social conflicts between people of how to be good and true?"

I completely understand what the question is asking, but I think truth and goodness would need to be explained differently from what you explained it as. The examples you used did not really seem to show people having completely different Ideas of what is good and true. If my friend’s mother thinks her son only does good when he gets straight A's, and my mother thinks I did good with C's and B's, It does not necessarily mean that each mother has a different Idea of what Is ultimately good. My mother could know that A's are truly what is good, but she chooses to support me If I get C's because she knew I tried. I feel that you outlined the idea that people have different standards for what is good, but I think you used examples that follow your own opinion about the subject. You made the point that certain people follow religious Ideas of what Is good and these ideas do not apply to all of us, but we cannot really know whether they do not apply to all of us. Maybe certain ideas are actually the truth about what is good, but we just choose not to believe them. You say that someone can be just as good when they do not go to church, but I do not understand how you can know that. Your first claim is that you do not feel that there is an ultimate truth or goodness, but from the examples you use, it seems like you do have an Idea of what is ultimately true and good.I think it is also interesting that you point out that people think being gay or bisexual is wrong, even when people who are gay or bisexual may be nice or true people. I find it interesting because it seems like when you make this claim, you are saying that what gay and bisexuals represent is ultimately good, but before you said that there is no such thing as ultimate truth or goodness. The point I am trying to make is that everyone has their own Ideas of what is true and good, even If they say they do not. For this reason, I feel It would be difficult for everyone to agree on what is true and good because humans naturally have different Ideas of what they believe is true and good. With that said, I feel that if every person were proven what is ultimately good and true, there would still be social conflicts. Even If everyone knew, what is good, people would still commit evils, which would cause conflict; this would happen because people commit wrongs, even when they know what is right. I do not feel this is Important because there could be one ultimate truth about what is good right now, but we might just not know it. I believe it is human nature for people to have different opinions about what they believe is true and good ; even when people deny that there is ultimate good, they still have an idea of what they believe is good.
If we all have some idea of what is good, are we born knowing the basics of what is good, or do we develop it?