Yes.

Yes. Yes it is. It is definitely possible to live a "good" life in a "corrupt" society. The reason I put quotation marks around the words 'good' and 'corrupt' is that they can mean different things to different people in different places. It is extremely important to define these terms before attempting to answer the posed question, as looking at the words using different definitions can easily change one's answer to the question. From this point on, we will consider a good life to be one where you don't hurt anyone else for your own benefits, thus keeping a clean conscience. A corrupt society would be one where there are people who do harm others for their own benefits. The question becomes whether or not it is possible to be self-regulating 'good' people even when you are surrounded by some people who are 'bad'. An important thing to note about the question is that it is NOT asking for whether or not we SHOULD live a good life in a corrupt society. If this was the case, then we would simply be arguing about which philosopher has the best ideas or notions of being 'good' (basically ethics). A utilitarian, for example, would say that according to our definition of 'good', it is definitely not possible to live a good life because everyone should do what makes you happy in the end, including harming others if necessary. Instead, the question asks us to simply see if it is possible. To answer this, we can look at examples from history and even some present day scenarios.

Take the workplace, for example. You see a colleague sabotaging a fellow worker just to get a promotion, and you immediately think to yourself that it's wrong (based on our definition of 'good') , as your colleague hurt someone else for their own benefit. Every day, you see more and more of this happening (a little bit of a stretch, I admit, but let's go with it for argument's sake), and you realize you have been left behind while your coworkers have all been promoted or have received better jobs elsewhere. In your attempt to lead a 'good' life, you have given up financial success, and possibly other things that come with having a high level job. So if looking at the question considering a good life to include success, then no, it is not necessarily possible. But is it still possible? Yes. You can still get by in life without financial success. Granted, it won't be very fancy, but you can still live. I think that's where the catch of the question is. Of course it is possible to live a good life in a corrupt society. You just might not anywhere.

By looking at history, we can see that it is definitely possible to live without harming others. Some people have valued the Silver Rule (basically what our definition of a good life is) for centuries, and their survival is proof that it is indeed possible. Confucius himself lived a good life, although we do not know whether or not it was in a corrupt society. It can be assumed that it probably was, though, because human nature tends to be what we would define as 'bad'. According to Hobbes, humans tend to (and should) do whatever they can to survive, including harming others if need be. Therefore, it can be assumed that Confucius lived a good life even when surrounded by people who did not always follow the Silver Rule. This shows that it is, indeed, possible. However, it brings us back to the point of whether or not it is feasible. Although Confucius lived out his days and gained fame, was his life hindered in any way by being good? The answer to this, I'm afraid, we will never know.

I don't think it is feasible to lead a good life in a corrupt society. In today's mindset of capitalism and competitiveness (at least in the cultures I have experienced), it would be impossible to refuse any advantages. Even if some decisions harm others, they might need to be taken for someone to achieve financial and social success. Of course, this is only a problem if the society values competition and comparing success (like ours). In any other type of culture, it wouldn't matter because people wouldn't care if others were gaining unfair advantages through exploitation. So, is it feasible to lead a good life in today's corrupt society? Probably not. But is it possible? Definitely.

WC = 751