Good Character?

[Althane]

Most of us have seen those Calvin and Hobbes strips with Calvin doing some boring chore, and complaining about it, to which his dad replies "It builds character".

But how exactly do you define character? What is the difference between "Bad Character" and "Good Character"?

In my opinon, Good Character is not only seeing the morally right choice, but also taking it. It's a combination of wisdom, intelligence, honesty, and a slew of other things. A good example of character would be Superman, he's honest, stands up for honor, justice, and the American way. Another example would be anyone in the Eagle Scouts. They've demonstrated themselves to be strong leaders, and to have the sense of community at front.

Bad character, however, is just the opposite. Selfishness, decietfulness, and untrustworthyness are all signs of a person with bad character. Most criminals have bad character, and show it in their ways. A fictional character displaying exceedingly bad character would be (ok, I have no idea, someone toss me a bad character character (wow, that sounded weird))

So, what're your thougts on the matter? What defines someone as being a good character, what personal traits do you look for and admire?

[Nique]

I see 'strength of charecter' being a more morally ambigious phrase - more like someone who has the will-power to carry out a task that is difficult, and more to the point, that they have little desire to enact. It just happens that most often the 'moral' choice is the most difficult to carry out.

Say, for your Superman example, submitting to due process instead of just killing Lex Luthor out-and-out. There's no way he WANTS to let Luthor into the hands of the authorities, so that he will once again escape, find some kryptonite, and kill 50+ people to get another shot at Superman... But there's a princeple in obeying the law that he knows he can't make exception for.

If you can make decisions based on the long term consequences rather than the immediate benefit, that, to me, is strength of charecter.

[Whale Biologist]

Character is doing the right thing, when no-one will ever know.

[Kaarin]

As a virtue ethicist, I define character as a particular disposition to act in a certain manner. To have good character is to possess virtue, while to have poor character is to possess vice. Those are the simple answers.

For a non-exhaustive list of the virutes: Courage, Truth, Honour,
Fidelity, Discipline, Hospitality, Industriousness, Self-Reliance, and
Perseverance.

Or the four Classical Virtues: Wisdom, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance.

Dr. Jan Garrett gives an interesting (if brief) summary of the philosophical underpinnings of my views, influenced as they are by Stoicism.

1. The key to successful living (sometimes called happiness) is freedom from the violent feelings.

2. The key to freedom from the violent feelings is living in accordance with virtue.

3. The key to virtue is living consistently in agreement with nature.

4. The things called good by most people, such as life, health, possessions, good reputation, and the like, are often in accord with our nature.

5. But they are not consistently in accord with our nature, as they are sometimes purchased or preserved at the expense of a person's integrity.

6. Virtue and successful living are not inborn but result from deliberate choice and continuous attention to what is in our power and what is not.

[Funka Genocide]

I think in the basic sense of what you mean (using the Calvin and Hobbes example) that Nique is correct in stating that character is the ability to accomplish something you have no personal desire to accomplish.

In other words, character is the ability to shovel shit well.

Seriously, the more dissapointment and seemingly pointless hardship you face and overcome, the more confident and better able to perform you become.

I think the term "bad character" in this sense is a spoiled brat, someone unfamiliar with personal hardship or imposed labor.

I wouldn't say that Superman had much character, he's simply altruistic to a fault. I mean honestly, nothing is actually difficult for Superman that he doesn't make difficult himself, he could quite literally bypass any and all hardship, and so he has never truly learned what it is to be imposed upon by society, and so his character, while ostensibly good, is only synthetic character held together not by actual learning experience, but by dogmatic conviction, and it could slip at any moment!

Batman has real character, because every difficulty he faces is real, he has to work within the rules even if he doesn't want to because he's only human, and so subject to all the difficulties of humanity.

Wait, suddenly I'm making Batman analogies.

just disregard everything before this.

[Solid Snake]

Yeah, I think one reason why I like Spider-Man more than Batman or Superman is because I always had the impression that Spidey geniunely struggled more to accomplish the "right thing." It's not so much "character" to do the right thing when the right thing is an easy thing to do. If "doing the right thing" is really as simple as me going five seconds out of my way to help a grandmother cross the street, sure it's a nice thing to do, but I haven't really sacrificed much time, effort or energy in getting there.

"Character-building" for me is when you know that doing the right thing is going to cost you, and you do the right thing anyway. Robert E. Lee had a strong suspicion that he'd be joining the losing side by leaving the Union and joining the Confederacy, and he knew he'd lose a lot of friendships and prestige by leaving his leadership role in the American army, but he did so anyway...not to protect any institution (ironically, Lee arguably despised slavery more than Lincoln did) but rather to protect his family and his hometown. That's an example of good character. Regardless of what you think about Jesus Christ and whether he's divine or a good moral teacher or just a revolutionary figure, he sacrificed his life for the sake of his cause, even when -- as unbiased Roman sources confirm -- he essentially had several chances to get off scot-free; that's an example of good character (it's sad that so many of us Christians haven't lived up to his example of charity and self-sacrifice.)

Whether it's Martin Luther King, Ghandi, Christ, Robert E. Lee, George Washington, Winston Churchill, or our own parents and grandparents, the figures in life we tend to idolize the most as having "good characters" are ones who don't just do the "right thing" but who follow the "right thing" even when doing the "right thing" bears dire consequences. Nearly every human being -- even criminals and malcontents -- is often more than willing to take "morally right" actions when the cost is free and the investment is tiny. It takes far more than just a moral compass and some high ideals, however, to do the right thing when your family and friends and your own life is in peril; that's where "character" is born.