Reflection Paper #1 What is good? Such simple words, but so hard to answer.

I have mulled over this question several times in the past, and each time has ended in frustration because the conclusions I make often ended up contradicting each other. Every time I tried to come up with a coherent conclusion, my mind immediately comes up with exceptions, hypothetical situations, and such. However, I will attempt to answer this question coherently for the sake of this essay. I believe there are two sides to every persons mind: the rational and the emotional. The degree of overlap of the two sides range from person to person. They could be stuck together, indistinguishable, or they could almost be treated as two entities. An average person has them blended together in some way, their experience of living processed and stimulated by both. A psychopath would be an extreme on the other end of the scale. They could separate the rational and the emotional so much that they dont need to feel to think. How does this relate to the topic good? Well, I think the experience of good resides in the emotional part of the mind. Humans are emotional beings, every experience is tied up with a feeling. Every reaction corresponds to an emotion. Something good corresponds with a positive feeling. However, not everyone will have the same reaction to a particular object. What is good for one person may not be good for another. Some people will get off on abusing other people. Although the rest of the world will condemn him for being a monster, he will categorize what he is doing as good because it brings him pleasure even though the consequences of getting caught will most definitely be not good. People transfer their own conceptions of good to other people, and if enough of society agrees, this will become the archetype in society, and it will perpetrate itself. A child has no innate concept of right or wrong, good or bad. Their definitions of good did not come from his or

her own experiences, instead they were hammered into him/her by society. Later, his experience will corroborate or refute societys lesson, and if it all matches up, then thats great. But if it doesnt, a child may get disillusioned and become what society has warned him against. Because ultimately, the final definition of good lies within the person. And here is where my ideas start contradicting themselves. Good is subjective but also closely linked with societys propaganda. When a person judges something as good, how much of that decision comes from societys pressure and how much comes from the individuals consciousness? The emotional side may categorize something as good, but the rational side may say so otherwise. If that happens, how will that affect the individuals who have a married mind versus the individuals who have estranged sides? And this is where I start getting a headache. These are just my current thoughts. It seems like every time I think about this subject, my thoughts change. How I view the world changes with every day that passes. And as my perspective on the world evolves, so does my thoughts on values. And sometimes I just let this massive whirlwind of thoughts sit at the back of my brain, because I just dont want to go through the process of untangling them. Hopefully, this class will help me straighten some of them.