The Human Good
Thus far, we have only skimmed the surface of what is meant by "the human good." What exactly does this term mean? What does it encompass?
A start to discovering this begins with philosophical definitions of what is considered good. There exists three distinct kinds of philosophical arguments for determining "good." There is the aretaic philosophy rooted in the idea of virtues and vices, and then two deontic philosophy ideas--deontology and consequentialism. Deontology looks at the root of good and bad based on actions, whereas consequentialism looks at good and bad based on the consequences of the actions.
While the contrast between these forms of understanding morality and "human goodness" is evident, we are choosing to focus on the idea of aretaic philosophy and how it contributes to the idea of determining goodness.
As mentioned, aretaic philosophy revolves around the concepts of virtues and vices. This means it becomes important to establish what a virtue is, and by identifying the virtue we can also establish the vices. This idea of morality is often credited to Aristotle and so we will be using his notions of aretaic principles to explain this philosophical perspective.
For starters, Aristotle argued that a virtue was the mean between vices. One vice would be rooted in excess (too much of a trait) and the other rooted in negligence (too little of a trait). The image serves as an example of a suggested virtue revolving around the trait of fear.
In this case, courage would be the virtue of fear because it balances cowardice and brashness; there's just enough fear to not be reckless but not enough fear to cripple action. Cowardice is the vice of excess, whereas brashness would be the vice of negligence.
In this way, this concept can be applied to a variety of basic human emotions and traits, and vices and virtues can be found for all of them. Or if looking at a vice or virtue first, the root trait/emotion can be derived from them to give basis to those things.
So how does this relate to human goodness? Aristotle further clarifies that in order for someone to act virtuously, they have to meet criterion that determines if they truly are a virtuous--and, by default of this perspective, good--person. These criterion are:
Intent: you must have the right intent with displaying virtuous action. You must be acting on the virtues out of pure and right intent to be good, and not simply to avoid negative consequences.
Phronesis: aka "practical wisdom." The act of using virtuous action to generate the intended, positive consequence. (Ex. a lack of phronesis would be using the virtue of charity to donate to things that aren't morally right...this is then not a virtuous action because the virtue isn't being adequately applied to the intended, positive consequence.)
Degree: most people are not fully virtuous, but one's virtuous nature can vary. Virtue is also something that is cultivated over time and requires consistency to truly harness a virtuous trait. Doing something virtuous once doesn't make someone virtuous.
Objections: theories of virtue are often very culture-specific. In other words, things that might be accepted and revered as virtuous in one culture might not be seen the same way in another culture--or vice versa.
If the virtuous actions of the individual are done with pure intent, are carried out using phronesis, are practiced regularly and maintain a degree of sincerity, and don't object with the dominant culture, then that person can be seen as virtuous.
And what of the human good? Then by aretaic philosophy it would make sense that a good person is a virtuous person. This does not assume human perfection, but rather assuming the majority actions and traits of the individual. Human good, therefore, should rest in regularly harnessing virtuous traits. Of course, the idea of culture makes this hard to fully grasp because the definition of good doesn't necessarily become concrete to certain attributes or traits. However, I think that this is a good starting point to beginning to understand what "the human good" could possibly mean and what it would include to achieve it.
