Q&A: Defining Good Character Traits
Defining Good Character Traits
Question
Hello Rabbi Michi,
Can a “good character trait” be defined as a “productive trait”? That is, any trait that advances a person’s life toward self-actualization is a “good trait,” and any trait that distances a person from his self-actualization is a “bad trait.”
Answer
I don’t know what self-actualization is. If a person is naturally meant to be a hired murderer—he has a rare talent for it and makes a lot of money from it—then is everything that advances him toward fulfilling this lofty destiny a good trait? Or perhaps you define self-actualization as the fulfillment of a good destiny, in which case we’re dealing with a circular definition.
Discussion on Answer
Hatred too is very helpful in overcoming obstacles and dangers. So are ambition and competition. And of course also the drive for honor and making a name for oneself, amassing wealth, and so on.
You remind me that I once thought all drives are really about enlarging the self. The sex drive is producing offspring who continue me. The drive for money and honor is also an enlargement of myself in different senses. The drive for life is the continuation of my existence. In the end, it seems to me that this too is a kind of tautology.
A. What you wrote sounds good—what’s wrong with a tautology? You explained what that drive is for.
B. So what is the definition of a “good trait”?
A. It’s a tautology because the term “self” here is simply not defined (it includes money and honor and so on) except through the definition of the drive itself (the self is whatever the drive strives to enlarge). So there is circularity here, or tautology. That’s also the feeling I get from your definition.
B. In my opinion, it can’t be grounded in something outside itself. Kant already had to resort to circularity when dealing with the good act and grounding it in the good will. As far as I remember, he doesn’t define the good itself.
It may be that I didn’t formulate my question well.
I’m asking myself: “What kind of person is it fitting to be?” What are the character traits that one ought to develop morally? Is it good or not to be a person with self-confidence? Is it good or not to be a person inclined toward love? And so on.
On the face of it, the answer “the good will is the only good” doesn’t get me any closer to an answer about what the good character is.
Rabbi Michi, I would be glad to get an answer to the last comment.
I answered, and it’s not clear to me how my answer flew away.
No wonder it doesn’t answer you, because there is no non-circular definition. I can give a list (partial) of good traits in my opinion, but without justification. At most, that would be an extensional definition (by listing instances) and not an essential one. What good would that do?
Beyond that, there is something good in almost every trait. It’s more a question of dosage and application (as in Maimonides’ doctrine of the middle path).
So in my opinion this is not a well-defined / interesting / constructive question.
Understood. More power to you, and thank you very much.
I would suggest that a good trait is a trait that helps add life to a person and to the world. For example: courage or love are good traits because they add life (courage has the potential to overcome the dangers of reality, and love has the potential to give to another), while weakness and hatred are bad traits because they diminish life.