Yeah, good and evil has a lot of roots in religion. I personally, find religion ridiculous. But thats just my thinking.Juan Regular said:
What makes "Good" good, and "Bad" bad?
- Thread starter Moo of the seven
- Start date
Because people react positively and negatively towards certain things-- it depends on cultural influences more than anything. I can't think of a society that doesn't have laws or social dogmas based on positivity and negativity-- murder, for example, is illegal because a large majority of people are afraid of being killed. We worry about it because it is in our nature to seek self-preservation. Civilizations evolve because of laws that restrict negative actions, and because of that, cultures almost always place a heavy emphasis on "doing the right thing".Moo of the seven said:
Amazing, thats exactly why I think too. Rules, laws, and punishment only exist for the goal of self preservation of a society, and thus humanity as a whole!HSIAMetalKing said:
All things, when analyzed, are simple. Everything. In every physics calculation, there is simple addition. In every great play, there are but words. And in every question, there is only there question, "why?".SeventhNadir said:
OK since we are trying to break everything down into the simplistic and animalistic ways where "morality" and "empathy" questioning will just be an endless cycle of "why?" - I'll try to make this a little more interesting...since, it isn't as simple as we are trying to make it.
A video of a battle [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM]
Let us decide who is good, who is bad, and who is the "inbetween" - we've got three factions here. 4 if you count the "surveyors".
A video of a battle [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM]
Let us decide who is good, who is bad, and who is the "inbetween" - we've got three factions here. 4 if you count the "surveyors".
Yes-- yes I do. I really have no choice but to "think it's that simple" until someone comes along and changes my mind.SeventhNadir said:
Well, I would have to say, that the buffalo/bison things are the evil ones, the alligators and lions good, and the servayors indifferent.ElArabDeMagnifico said:
I could not disagree more XDMoo of the seven said:
Reductionism might be an appealing concept but I severely doubt its merit as a solution
Are you sure it isn't the opposite? Nothing is really "simple" - break down and analyze anything and it will all be complicated and convoluted.Moo of the seven said:
Well, its not a solution, its more of a way to look at the world. True, you cant solve a rubix cube with one turn, but with many, you can.SeventhNadir said:
Is that a good thing though? (Not "moral or immoral" - I mean "good idea or bad idea") I mean, if everything is thought in the "simple" way, then you could be stopping yourself from learning all the facts.Moo of the seven said:
So I can't solve this rubiks cube with one turn. *turns the scrambled Rubiks cube's right side once* - ok, now many more turns and it shall be solved... *turns the same side again, and again, and again, and again - rubiks cube is still unsolved*
This may be a bad example, but the whole point is that oversimplifying isn't as good as it sounds because without enough details, you just don't get the message - we have to break things down to understand them.
Once again, the simpiflication is not a way to solve problems, but a way to look at them.ElArabDeMagnifico said:
Good vs. Evil and Good vs. Bad are very interesting idea with each having roots in the different cultural traditions that form western culture. Good/Bad is the traditional Greco-Roman system which is characterized by 2 things, first a flaw in the good or hero character(s) and second the evil or villain character(s) have humanity. To see this look at the Greco-Roman Gods, the king of the Gods, Zeus, is womanizing, spiteful and a whole host of other morally deficient things and Hades the God of the Underworld while he isn't really a character you would want to be friends with he isn't evil or heartless. Further if we look at the Iliad we see the Hero (Achilles) isn't very heroic, he spends half the story in his tent to spite Agamemnon over an argument about which captured woman each got as a prize then after his friend (gay lover) is killed he goes insane and ends up desecrating the corpse of Hektor (a major breach of morality at the time). We also note that the Trojans aren't entirely evil either and when King Priam (Hektor's father) comes to get his corpse he and Achilles cry, establishing King Priam as just as human as Achilles.
Good/Evil is an outgrowth monotheism (Judeo-Christian worldview), the idea that there is a single all powerful entity inherently leads to a more black vs. white world view. Throughout the Old Testament numerous enemies are destroyed without so much as a 2nd thought (their humanity is not established), for example the Egyptians or the Midianites (Numbers 31). While the good vs. evil dichotomy is more prevalent today as the Judeo-Christian worldview is more influential on western morality (thanks to the Roman Empire). This basis is why our leaders often portray issues as "us vs. them" or "with us or against us" such distinctions fit into our moral worldview. However the good vs. bad dichotomy of the Greco-Roman tradition is still very prevalent and can be seen with our society's obsession with Byronic or anti-heroes.
Even more interesting are the qualities that each system defines as good and bad/ evil. Nietzsche referred to this difference master-slave-morality. Master morality is the Greco-Roman idea which emphasizes strength and ability as the major heroic qualities and bad is weakness and timidity and things that provoke weakness. Nietzsche saw the slave morality as the outgrowth of the weak and the timid who had been subjugated under the master morality, in a historical sense the persecuted Christians and Jews. The slave morality attempted to regard as evil everything that had previously been regarded as good, by emphasizing humility and charity and claiming that the will to power is an ultimately corrupting influence that leads to (and is) evil. These conflicting moral scales are also responsible for many of the anti-heroes we see today, people who are heroes in the Greco-Roman sense thus show traits that are counter to the prevailing (Judeo-Christian) worldview.
Good/Evil is an outgrowth monotheism (Judeo-Christian worldview), the idea that there is a single all powerful entity inherently leads to a more black vs. white world view. Throughout the Old Testament numerous enemies are destroyed without so much as a 2nd thought (their humanity is not established), for example the Egyptians or the Midianites (Numbers 31). While the good vs. evil dichotomy is more prevalent today as the Judeo-Christian worldview is more influential on western morality (thanks to the Roman Empire). This basis is why our leaders often portray issues as "us vs. them" or "with us or against us" such distinctions fit into our moral worldview. However the good vs. bad dichotomy of the Greco-Roman tradition is still very prevalent and can be seen with our society's obsession with Byronic or anti-heroes.
Even more interesting are the qualities that each system defines as good and bad/ evil. Nietzsche referred to this difference master-slave-morality. Master morality is the Greco-Roman idea which emphasizes strength and ability as the major heroic qualities and bad is weakness and timidity and things that provoke weakness. Nietzsche saw the slave morality as the outgrowth of the weak and the timid who had been subjugated under the master morality, in a historical sense the persecuted Christians and Jews. The slave morality attempted to regard as evil everything that had previously been regarded as good, by emphasizing humility and charity and claiming that the will to power is an ultimately corrupting influence that leads to (and is) evil. These conflicting moral scales are also responsible for many of the anti-heroes we see today, people who are heroes in the Greco-Roman sense thus show traits that are counter to the prevailing (Judeo-Christian) worldview.
I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say you have majored in philosophy, Greek mythology, or theology in general.
I think this pretty much closes the discussion.shatnershaman said:
'Good' and 'bad' are terms used to mean what the users wants it to mean.A purely subjective term that really can't exist in the world once you've lost your innocence and you learn the world isn't in binary.
Actually I'm an 18 year old with an interest in philosophy who expects to go into engineeringMoo of the seven said:
My friend, we have much in common. Though it was my father who went into engineering. I want to go into physics or english.fierydemise said:
Or it could be, and this could just be a simulation built by super advanced machines who are using us as a power source. (i took the goddamned red pill)stompy said: