The "Good"

Let me just take a moment to revel in the fact that we won you over to Lil Wayne's dark side.



OK I'm done. I apologize for my absence over the past few days but we've been in wedding overdrive and I wasn't near a computer for any extended period of time. I am sorry I missed that Nova/Pitt game, seeing as I had Villanova in the the Final Four.

ANYWAY, you were asking me about the definition of good and how the 100 homeless people would be able to provide that utility. I guess it is a question of what one would be willing to invest in them. My suspicion is that the diversity of skills they would be likely to have would provide great utility. Within that group, even accounting for a generous amount of irretrievable mental disease, I bet that a number of them would be capable of being teachers or doctors or police officers (or plumbers/contractors, really anything). Lots of circumstances can lead to homelessness and the problem has to do with the amount that we as society invest in them. Now, your (obvious) point here is going to be "Who is going to teach these homeless people these trades?". However, the hypothetical does not require us to get rid of ALL teachers versus ALL homeless people, so I suspect there would still be a solid number of teachers.

Which brings me to the definition of "good". It is obviously a difficult question, but I think I would start by saying that "good" is that which provides the greatest amount of happiness and quality of life for the greatest number of people (however I would distinguish between happiness and pleasure but that is another topic). There are multiple problems with this definition but I'll let you tease them out. However, I think that the diversity of skills which the 100 homeless people would likely have, would be able to contribute across society. There is something to be said for having your toilet fixed quickly and effectively, or your bus or subway run on time. I'm not making a better or worse valuation, I just think that there is greater chance for good to come across the spectrum of culture from the greater number of people who are being saved. I guess I would also say that I do believe there is something inherently important about life and if at all possible it is important to save the greatest number of people.

I'm going to leave this for now so you can respond and we can gain some momentum. I'm also going to go back to my old philosophy textbooks so I can back some of this up with textual examples.