The ethics of Hercules : $b A study of man's body as the sole determinant of ethical valuesGivler, Robert Chenault
Philosophy
The ethics of Hercules : $b A study of man's body as the sole determinant of ethical values
Givler, Robert Chenault
Ethics; Psychophysiology
The term “bad” is a gestural sign which we employ in two different
senses,—to point out a deficiency or lack, (that is, to indicate
merely the _absence of_ good), and in a positive sense, to hint
the presence of something definitely _antagonistic to_ good. By an
analogy, if money is a good, we should call it “bad” in the privative
sense of the term for one to be without it; while it is “bad” in
the positive sense for one to be deeply in debt. But even while we
ponder these two behavior situations, they tend, at least partly, to
coalesce, very much indeed as Classes A and B of “good” merged at
times imperceptibly into one another. For if the man who is without
money, but not in debt, passionately desires to purchase and spend,
he will immediately place himself in the class of debtors, and
experience therewith the positive form of “badness,” at least so far
as his feelings of inhibition are concerned. However, just to what
an extent these two categories of “bad” may be identified cannot be
shown until we have first reviewed the separate uses to which this
term is put,[8] and have also deduced the action-patterns which it
implies.
It can be divined at once from a careful perusal of this brief array,
herewith subjoined, that the concept “bad” is, on the whole, a far
less variegated symbol than is the concept “good.” Its use is more
restricted, its connotation is less rich in variety, and, as can be
already predicted, the number of separate classes into which our
array may be distributed is fewer than was the case with the term
“good.” For while we have here hints of three classes which are,
roughly speaking, negatives of Classes A, B, and C of “good,” we have
nothing at all comparable to the negatives of Classes D and E. To
wit:—
Class A. That which is useless, unfit, unserviceable, and the like,
for any purpose whatever.
Class B. That which brings pain, discomfort, loss, or death. In some
respects this class is the negative of Class B of “good,” having the
general meaning of _undependable_. However, it is not the negative of
every shade of meaning implied by that class, as can at once be seen
when we consider that there are no “bads” which are the antitheses of
goods, that is, property. For, as we have already observed, even some
debts are _good_ debts.
Class C. That which disappoints expectation.[9] Here also the
negation is limited, for while with Class C of “good” the tone of the
voice could convey an immense variety of meanings, here no such great
array of nuances is found.
In consideration, then, of what has just preceded, we may
emphatically deny that “bad” is a true antonym of the word “good.”
Not only is this to be instantly deduced from the array of uses to
which these terms are put, but also from the contents of the five
classes of “good” and the three classes of “bad.” We shall presently
discover whether “evil,” as an adjunct of the concept “bad,” makes up
this discrepancy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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