What is a decent human-being?

13

Comments

  • Kann
    Kann Posts: 1,146
    Ahnimus wrote:
    In order for there to be a measurement-which is entirely a human construct-there must be reference points. There must be the high end of decency and the low end of indecency in order for a scale to exist at all. Given that the scale is subjective, it's highly probable that the individuals scale of decency uses introspection of themselves as a reference point for the high-end of decency. In this regard, everyone is equally decent.

    Some view humans as just more than a walking machine, and that not everyone is equally decent. If you consider the man is nothing but a smart animal you could also say that a decent animal is one that lives in balance with its environment.
    To be decent you have to live with at least one person (you can't be decent if no one is there to witness/judge it) and if I was brave enough I would read lots of boring books on philosophy and get to basic attributes that are necessary to live in community (more than alone) and use them to define decent human being.
  • Jeanie
    Jeanie Posts: 9,446
    Kann wrote:
    ....To be decent you have to live with at least one person (you can't be decent if no one is there to witness/judge it)......

    Why not Kann? I'm not understanding why a person can't be inherently decent without having to have it judged or validated externally.

    I think everybody is decent at some point in their lives. Some more than others but it's in all of us. Even the most heinously indecent person must have performed at least one decent act in their life. Perhaps a decent person is someone who simply does the decent thing and prescribes to decency more frequently than others because that is the way they are wired to be. Perhaps there are no decent people and only decent acts. :)
    NOPE!!!

    *~You're IT Bert!~*

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  • sponger
    sponger Posts: 3,159
    If decency wasn't a natural state of being, then it must be assumed that people are naturally indecent.
    reigning champion

    http://forums.pearljam.com/showthread.php?t=272825
  • Abookamongstthemany
    Abookamongstthemany Posts: 8,209
    sponger wrote:
    If decency wasn't a natural state of being, then it must be assumed that people are naturally indecent.

    Naturally? No, not when you take conditioning into account.
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • sponger
    sponger Posts: 3,159
    Abookamongstthemany wrote:
    Naturally? No, not when you take conditioning into account.

    You think decency can be the result of conditioning?
    reigning champion

    http://forums.pearljam.com/showthread.php?t=272825
  • gue_barium
    gue_barium Posts: 5,515
    sponger wrote:
    You think decency can be the result of conditioning?

    Not your conditioning.
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  • Abookamongstthemany
    Abookamongstthemany Posts: 8,209
    sponger wrote:
    You think decency can be the result of conditioning?


    Or indecency...more often that not that would be the case. Minds can be molded into anything especially young ones if it's repeated to them enough.
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • sponger
    sponger Posts: 3,159
    Abookamongstthemany wrote:
    Or indecency...more often that not that would be the case. Minds can be molded into anything especially young ones if it's repeated to them enough.

    In that case, I'm not sure how you reached the conclusion that anything you've said so far is in contradiction to what I've said. You did phrase your previous response in the form of a counter-point.
    reigning champion

    http://forums.pearljam.com/showthread.php?t=272825
  • sponger
    sponger Posts: 3,159
    gue_barium wrote:
    Not your conditioning.

    I remember now. You're all talk. I think we've gone through this before. Remember? It's that cycle where you can't have your way, so you act like a little brat.
    reigning champion

    http://forums.pearljam.com/showthread.php?t=272825
  • gue_barium
    gue_barium Posts: 5,515
    sponger wrote:
    I remember now. You're all talk. I think we've gone through this before. Remember? It's that cycle where you can't have your way, so you act like a little brat.

    And you're a brownhole.

    You're like my girlfriend when I was 20. "Well, if you want to."

    Ouch
    ouch
    ouch
    that hurts!
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  • gue_barium
    gue_barium Posts: 5,515
    sponger wrote:
    I remember now. You're all talk. I think we've gone through this before. Remember? It's that cycle where you can't have your way, so you act like a little brat.

    You can be my gf, if you wanna be.
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    except by express written permission of ©gue_barium, the author.
  • Abookamongstthemany
    Abookamongstthemany Posts: 8,209
    sponger wrote:
    In that case, I'm not sure how you reached the conclusion that anything you've said so far is in contradiction to what I've said. You did phrase your previous response in the form of a counter-point.

    I don't think that just because the world has so many indecent people in it, that makes humans naturally indecent. I don't see conditioning as natural because it purposefully manipulates our natural state of being. I'm just making a point about conditioning...you were kinda vague so I wasn't sure what point you were trying make or where you were going with that.
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • Abookamongstthemany
    Abookamongstthemany Posts: 8,209
    gue_barium wrote:
    And you're a brownhole.

    You're like my girlfriend when I was 20. "Well, if you want to."

    Ouch
    ouch
    ouch
    that hurts!

    :D
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • sponger
    sponger Posts: 3,159
    Abookamongstthemany wrote:
    I don't think that just because the world has so many indecent people in it, that makes human naturally indecent. I don't see conditioning as natural because it purposefully manipulates our natural state of being. I'm just making a point about conditioning...you were kinda vague so I wasn't sure what point you were trying make or where you were going with that.

    You could've just said that you didn't understand what I was saying. Also, none of the things you said above had anything to do with what I was saying.
    reigning champion

    http://forums.pearljam.com/showthread.php?t=272825
  • Abookamongstthemany
    Abookamongstthemany Posts: 8,209
    sponger wrote:
    You could've just said that you didn't understand what I was saying. Also, none of the things you said above had anything to do with what I was saying.

    I said what I wanted to say. I wanted to bring that up after I read your reply. If you were going somewhere else with it, then continue on down that path. No need to get so touchy everytime someone quotes you...here's a hug, you seem like you need one.
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • gue_barium
    gue_barium Posts: 5,515
    sponger wrote:
    You could've just said that you didn't understand what I was saying. Also, none of the things you said above had anything to do with what I was saying.

    You got me again. I need to feel the gilded touch of your intelligence.

    What is it? Campbells tomato soup?
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    except by express written permission of ©gue_barium, the author.
  • sponger
    sponger Posts: 3,159
    Abookamongstthemany wrote:
    I said what I wanted to say. I wanted to bring that up after I read your reply. If you were going somewhere else with it, then continue on down that path. No need to get so touchy everytime someone quotes you...here's a hug, you seem like you need one.

    It's not that I'm getting touchy. It's that I get frustrated when people can't speak english.
    reigning champion

    http://forums.pearljam.com/showthread.php?t=272825
  • Abookamongstthemany
    Abookamongstthemany Posts: 8,209
    sponger wrote:
    It's not that I'm getting touchy. It's that I get frustrated when people can't speak english.

    I'm so sorry.
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • Cosmo
    Cosmo Posts: 12,225
    The term is subjective... it is relative to the person. Your definition of decency may conflict with mine and others. Like, nudity, for example. Some would have you believe that nudity is indecent... which, I would agree... to an extent... there are more people out there I DON'T want to see naked, than see naked. Nudity itself isn't indecent... the way you percieve nudity defines the term... for you, but not everyone. The same goes for sex... indecent to some people... typically the people who can't get laid.
    Still... I understand the gist of this thread... it's not about decency or indecency... it's about character. I consider a decent person as being someone who does kind acts for the sake of it's own kindness... whether it is caring and giving to the less fortunate amongst us... or people in general. Someone who does this unconditionally and does not expect anything in return. I guess 'Kindness', 'Caring' and 'Giving' are proper synonyms in my definition of decency. A kind person who cares and gives is a decent person... make that an unconditionally kind person who truely cares enough to give kindness to others... even perfect strangers... even adversaries... is a decent person. That would be my perception of what makes up a decent person.
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  • gue_barium
    gue_barium Posts: 5,515
    Cosmo wrote:
    The term is subjective... it is relative to the person. Your definition of decency may conflict with mine and others. Like, nudity, for example. Some would have you believe that nudity is indecent... which, I would agree... to an extent... there are more people out there I DON'T want to see naked, than see naked. Nudity itself isn't indecent... the way you percieve nudity defines the term... for you, but not everyone. The same goes for sex... indecent to some people... typically the people who can't get laid.
    Still... I understand the gist of this thread... it's not about decency or indecency... it's about character. I consider a decent person as being someone who does kind acts for the sake of it's own kindness... whether it is caring and giving to the less fortunate amongst us... or people in general. Someone who does this unconditionally and does not expect anything in return. I guess 'Kindness', 'Caring' and 'Giving' are proper synonyms in my definition of decency. A kind person who cares and gives is a decent person... make that an unconditionally kind person who truely cares enough to give kindness to others... even perfect strangers... even adversaries... is a decent person. That would be my perception of what makes up a decent person.

    I think if you think of the better side of your grandparents, or aunts, uncles, the answer is somewhere in there, maybe?
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