The Art Of Being A Good Person

How to lead a moral life.

- Andrea Bennett

TWO PEOPLE—an off-duty firefighter and a senior citizen using a cane— are walking down the street one day when they come across a house on fire. Suddenly, someone sticks their head out of a second-floor window and yells, “Help me! Help me!”

While the two passersby are facing the same problem, says Paul Bloomfield, professor of philosophy at the University of Connecticut, they will most likely arrive at two different, equally moral decisions. In this situation, Bloomfield says, “It seems to me that the right thing for the firefighter to do is to run into the house and help, and the right thing for the elderly person to do is to call 911.”

Most of us don’t come across burning houses on a regular basis, but we do face other kinds of moral decisions: should we sneak our nine-year-old grandson into the zoo for free as an under-eight? If our sister is having an affair, should we tell our brother-in-law? How you respond, says Bloomfield, is part of what determines if you are a “good person” or not.

As a philosopher, he defends an approach inspired by the ancient Greeks that focuses on moral character. In virtue ethics, the cardinal virtues—courage, justice, temperance (moderation or restraint) and wisdom—are meant to guide our decision-making processes, says Bloomfield. They also provide one set of criteria: a person who possesses these qualities might be considered objectively “good.”

For Bloomfield, being good is not simply a worthy goal in and of itself. The ancient Greeks, he notes, put forward the notion of eudaimonia, or a flourishing existence, where, barring tragic misfortune, happiness comes from being virtuous. Goodness, he believes, is a necessary component if we want to live our best lives.

If you’re striving for that goal, some simple strategies can help illuminate the path.