I don’t think being a good person is a concept that is really that meaningful.
My not-terribly-examined model is that good person is a social concept masquerading as a moral one. Human morality evolved for social reasons to service social purposes [citation needed]. Under this model, when someone is anxious about being a good person, their anxiety is really about their acceptance by others, i.e. good = has met the group’s standards for approval and inclusion.
If this model is correct, then saying that being a good person is not a meaningful moral concept could be interpreted (consciously or otherwise) by some listeners to mean “there is no standard you can meet which means you have gained society’s approval”. Which is probably damned scary if you’re anxious about that kind of thing.
My quick thoughts on the implications is something like maybe it’s good to generally dissolve good person as a moral concept and then consciously factor out the things you do to gain acceptance within groups (according to their morality) from the actions you take because you’re trying to optimize for your own personally-held morality/virtues/value.
My not-terribly-examined model is that good person is a social concept masquerading as a moral one. Human morality evolved for social reasons to service social purposes [citation needed]. Under this model, when someone is anxious about being a good person, their anxiety is really about their acceptance by others, i.e. good = has met the group’s standards for approval and inclusion.
If this model is correct, then saying that being a good person is not a meaningful moral concept could be interpreted (consciously or otherwise) by some listeners to mean “there is no standard you can meet which means you have gained society’s approval”. Which is probably damned scary if you’re anxious about that kind of thing.
My quick thoughts on the implications is something like maybe it’s good to generally dissolve good person as a moral concept and then consciously factor out the things you do to gain acceptance within groups (according to their morality) from the actions you take because you’re trying to optimize for your own personally-held morality/virtues/value.