1. I think that being a good person is more important than performing good actions. To me, being a good person is synonymous with desiring good actions. Performing a single good action isn’t contingent upon being a good person, but being inclined to perform good actions is, I think. To clarify what I mean by a “good person”, consider someone who asks, “Am I being selfish for trying to land a job better than one I am already offered?” I would say a person asking such a question is already a good person, and the person strives not to improve what may be called their “moral character” (how good they are as a person) but rather their ability to choose good actions. Performing good actions requires more than just being a good person. It encompasses more – it requires knowledge, experience, perspective, ability to remain unbiased, etc. I feel we would certainly hold a higher opinion of someone who is good person than one who has no sense of justice, even if the good person does not take good actions.
5. First off, I think many of us (myself included) would be far more willing to sacrifice our lives for another human being than for an animal, however unwilling we may be to do the former. Even considering something not so heavy, if there is a spider in my house, I will just kill it. I don’t spend time trying to figure out how to return it to the wild safely.
(Sorry, I know this is incomplete.)
Also here is a link to my blog post: http://sites.psu.edu/futureoffood/2016/02/03/module-3-activity-your-ethics-views/
Yeeren, I enjoyed reading your response to the first question because it seems like you looked at it in a different way from most people while still being very relevant. You made some good points that I have not thought of, and have not seen in other posts. I completely agree that doing good actions not only is more valuable, it also requires more effort, knowledge, and experience as you mentioned. I think this adds another element to why actually doing actions is better than just “being” a good person.