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This is a concept I have been considering..
If a person is acting "out of character" are the actions of that person an anomaly or does the fact they are acting "out of character" indeed redefine their character and become part of it ?
Is a person's character defined by each and every action they take - even if they only do something once in there life ?
If a person is acting "out of character" are the actions of that person an anomaly or does the fact they are acting "out of character" indeed redefine their character and become part of it ?
Is a person's character defined by each and every action they take - even if they only do something once in there life ?
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Melbourne
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Re: Out of Character ?
Sat, October 4, 2008 - 12:04 PMTo me, "Out of Character" simply means, "You're not behaving in a way consistent with the other times I have experienced your behaviors". So in that context, doing something you are not normally known to do does not usually redefine your character.
I think there are some exceptions to that rule: Basically anything considered morally deficient, i.e. rape, murder, abortion, child molestation, drug use, suicide attempts, etc. Taking part in most of these things can potentially either actually alter your character or alter a person's perception of your character. -
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Re: Out of Character ?
Mon, October 6, 2008 - 11:34 AMJosh wrote:
>"I think there are some exceptions to that rule: Basically anything considered morally deficient, i.e. rape, murder, abortion, child molestation, drug use, suicide attempts, etc. Taking part in most of these things can potentially either actually alter your character or alter a person's perception of your character."<
Define Moral... Please... I'm serious
Ethics are a different area. Where as I would define violations of consent and autonomy to be unethical other areas would be considered by some immoral.
Let's look at some of your examples:
Drug use- Immoral in some segments... VERY widely accepted and in fact advertised. In no way Unethical. <yes folks Viagra, Advil and beer are drugs>
Suicide- Immoral by Xian standards, Not unethical. I believe a person has the right to decide when they should die.
Abortion- Immoral for many Xians, Not unethical since the protoplasm is not cognicent.
Ethical issues-
Rape- Violation of consent immoral with highly held fairly universal prohibitions
Murder- Again fairly universal agreement and prohibitions
Child Molestation - Admittedly not as universally held. In western society is fairly widely condemned though age of consent is by no means universal
So curios there Josh what is morality?
For me Ethical violations are insurmountable violations of character. Morality is defined by the cultural group. In general has no particular bearing on me as an individual.
JSin -
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Re: Out of Character ?
Mon, October 6, 2008 - 12:54 PM"So curios there Josh what is morality?
For me Ethical violations are insurmountable violations of character. Morality is defined by the cultural group. In general has no particular bearing on me as an individual."
We're on the same page here, really. I just didn't bother going into too much explanation. Basically I get tired of writing "moral/ethical" every time I make reference to behavior.
When I said, "Taking part in most of these things can potentially either actually alter your character..." I was referring to, " ...Ethical violations are insurmountable violations of character."
When I said, "...alter a person's perception of your character," I was referring to, "...Morality is defined by the cultural group."
Whether I think any of the actions I mentioned are moral or ethical isn't relevant, really. The point is that most of those actions often times have a heavy and direct impact on the person doing them.
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Re: Out of Character ?
Sat, October 4, 2008 - 3:27 PMSeems in one respect there's no really such thing as being out of character - at least that under a specific set of circumstances a person will behave in certain way, and it's likely that if that person was placed under more or less identical circumstances, they'd probably act similarly.
From what I've seen, unusual circumstances can produce unusual reactions to them, and sometimes when people are subjected to uncharacteristic or extreme pressures - well, you get responses from them that you never would have expected. And it seems to cut both ways; some will go above and beyond and others will stick their head in a hole. You never really know how you're going to react until you're put to the test. -
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Re: Out of Character ?
Sat, October 4, 2008 - 4:11 PM(I am just reading - not colouring the reaction - but thanks for responding... "once in there life ? " ack - how bloody annoying .. "their life".. sheezee.. but careless spelling mistakes like that are so characteristic of me :) -
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Re: Out of Character ?
Sun, October 5, 2008 - 3:42 PMyes ! ... uh, NO ! ... uh, what was the question again ? lol.
dd someone say something about morally-deficient-actions? -
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Re: Out of Character ?
Mon, October 6, 2008 - 12:24 AMCan someone without morals elicit a morally-deficient-action? :-) -
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Re: Out of Character ?
Mon, October 6, 2008 - 5:37 PM<Can someone without morals elicit a morally-deficient-action? :-) >
Without getting caught up on the difference between moral and ethical... there is two dimensions to this - how one judges ones own behaviour - and how one judges the behaviour of others.
And what prompted the question was mainly an abstract examination of myself and some recent actions.. which might be viewed as "out of character" by many - but it did not look that way to me. I was thinking about how others would view those actions.
For me - I don't consider my actions in terms of ethics or morals - but very simple "right and wrong" - determined by what I feel is right, particularly measured by an actions effect on others. -
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Re: Out of Character ?
Wed, October 15, 2008 - 11:09 AM"there is two dimensions to this - how one judges ones own behaviour - and how one judges the behaviour of others."
And a third, how others perceive your actions.
This jars loose a memory back in the day when I was living in Berkeley. I was crossing a busy street and stopped on the island at the center of the street to wait for a break in traffic. Standing next to me was a thin elderly fellow. Out of the corner of my eye I saw this man begin to step off the curb out in front of a speeding car. Instinctively I whipped around and caught the fellow in the chest with my forearm. It knocked him back and the poor guy crumpled onto the island. I think I broke one of his ribs because a heard a snap. Course, the first thing I did was to crouch down and check the guy out. He was out of it, conscious but in shock from the blow. In what seemed like seconds a crowd had surrounded me – yelling at me, shoving me, trying to wrestle me to the ground til the cops got there. In my mind I'd undoubtedly saved the guys life, yet not a single one of them had seen the speeding car. The only thing they saw was an old man being brutalized during an attempted robbery. -
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Re: Out of Character ?
Thu, October 16, 2008 - 4:47 PMI see your point, Bloke. Because I'd say "in character" is what you'd kneejerk respond with to any given situation, but should circumstances be weird and unusual or unprecedented, you might then turn to a kind of unconscious "Category B" selection of responses, and use one of them. Which in normal circumstances, you wouldn't. Yet that subset of actions, yeah, it's part of your repertoire. Just that you might not really know it. Or consciously admit it.
One thing I've learned though. Never say, "Oh I would *never* do that!" That's really tempting the gods. First thing ya know, you'll be doing exactly that thing, lol. -
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Re: Out of Character ?
Thu, October 16, 2008 - 10:27 PM<One thing I've learned though. Never say, "Oh I would *never* do that!" That's really tempting the gods. First thing ya know, you'll be doing exactly that thing, lol. >
Yep. Totally agree.
Superlatives (always, never, forever etc ) are overused and rarely fully considered
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Re: Out of Character ?
Sun, October 5, 2008 - 8:55 AMI guess if you are used to certain behaviors from people a sudden shift in actions or speech can seem like they are behaving out of character but then knowing that in this world there are so many variables that can change any given situation or environment (and thus produce reactions) it doesn't seem like people so much behave out of character, rather they react with a different or new behavior to a previously unseen situation or variable.
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Re: Out of Character ?
Mon, October 6, 2008 - 11:23 AMFirst issue would be to define character. Is character some mode of action or is it the sum total of all actions. To some degree you touched on this.
A single action to me is not character... Rather someones character is the totality of their actions <I understand this is moving sideways>
So let's look at it as weighted averages. To distill it I think we need to throw out the highs and lows. In this manner we can begin to define some level of what their normalcy is. While certain actions may be within their capacity it may or may not be a defining feature of their character.
Then again this all goes out the window when the person has some psychological issues.
JSin -
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Re: Out of Character ?
Mon, October 6, 2008 - 5:44 PM<A single action to me is not character... Rather someone's character is the totality of their actions >
The key idea I think in the context of the original question. While a single action is not "a persons character" - I am leaning towards each and every action a person takes being an indigent in it with no action being able to be discounted.
And I am looking at www.thefreedictionary.com/character considering it.
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Re: Out of Character ?
Sun, October 26, 2008 - 8:50 AMCharacter is defined by actions period. People always show the best about themselves when you are getting to know them but it takes a long time to know someones character. The only way to know someones character is by their actions. So if a red flag comes up about something they have done, do not ignore it because that is their true character showing through. Talk is cheap. A person of character walks their talk which means if their actions do not correspond with what they tell you, they have a flaw in their character. List the character traits that are important to you to find your boundary of what traits you do not want. Actions tell the story.
