The moral examination of a thesaurus.

[Bonbonnom]

just out of curiousity i looked up the definitions and synonyms of good and evil. I found that there were a disturbingly greater amount for evil than there is for good. While this was no surprise to me, it did get me to think, how sad is the world, how horrible must it be and how depressingly devoid of morality and humanity that it seems like we actually try to focus on the bad, the wrong, the evil. Does this make sense or does it seem more like i'm overreacting to something that means close to nothing?

 

[own8ge]

Listen to reggae and everything will be alright

 

[Brontosaurie]

overreacting. language transmits information, information is for solving problems, good is no problem, hence more words for evil.

 

[own8ge]

overreacting. language transmits information, information is for solving problems, good is no problem, hence more words for evil.

Ha! Intelligent remark! o.O

 

[Brontosaurie]

Ha! Intelligent remark! o.O

Ha! Pleasant new attitude! o.O

 

[Bonbonnom]

Makes sense, but then why is it that we do not communicate good, why do we not have a desire to share what is good or is that also reading too deep into language. I find language tells a lot about a society and they reflect each other equally. In Sicily for example, their language lacks future tense. And there is a general culture there as well where there is little worry for the future and mostly "living in the now" type of mind set. In the same way, the fact that we lack many synonyms with good, does this make us more vulnerable to depression, anxiety, fear, etc. Is there a correlation between the two? Or at least would you think there could be?

 

[own8ge]

Ha! Pleasant new attitude! o.O

Thanks!
I'm trying to transform myself into an INFP

Makes sense, but then why is it that we do not communicate good, why do we not have a desire to share what is good or is that also reading too deep into language. I find language tells a lot about a society and they reflect each other equally. In Sicily for example, their language lacks future tense. And there is a general culture there as well where there is little worry for the future and mostly "living in the now" type of mind set. In the same way, the fact that we lack many synonyms with good, does this make us more vulnerable to depression, anxiety, fear, etc. Is there a correlation between the two? Or at least would you think there could be?

If there is no problem, then why should you communicate? Why are we conscious if we couldn't perceive problems? I think that you could only think objectively about something once you establish a problem.

If you don't think about the future, you wouldn't consider the future a problem thus not communicate it?

We do communicate good, by resolving problems. Like now You have a problem, and I'm trying to resolve it for you

 

[Bonbonnom]

So would it then be more reasonable to say that the vocabulary wouldn't be a particular cause for something like depression but instead is a flag to signify the strong presence of depression?

 

[Brontosaurie]

Makes sense, but then why is it that we do not communicate good, why do we not have a desire to share what is good or is that also reading too deep into language. I find language tells a lot about a society and they reflect each other equally. In Sicily for example, their language lacks future tense. And there is a general culture there as well where there is little worry for the future and mostly "living in the now" type of mind set. In the same way, the fact that we lack many synonyms with good, does this make us more vulnerable to depression, anxiety, fear, etc. Is there a correlation between the two? Or at least would you think there could be?

i think you're perfectly right about language telling us a lot about the society we live in.

i interpret lack of future tense as (put simply) a culturally specific tendency not to worry about the future, which could result from wealth, pride or a combination of the two. probably i am overlooking some additional factors.

underrepresentation of words for the good, however, is a more universal thing as hinted in my previous post. not a lot needs to be said when nothing needs to be fixed. and isn't that what good is? things could go wrong in many ways, there are many nuances to evil, but there's just one truth, one optimal conduct, one perfect order. evil is chaos and myriad, good is order and unity. does this make sense?

anyway, thusly i do not find abscence of synonyms for good to be a symptom of some malfunction.

 

[BigApplePi]

overreacting. language transmits information, information is for solving problems, good is no problem, hence more words for evil.

I'm glad I read this far because that is exactly correct. Evil is a problem. People have to address it. Good is a solution. It means we've already arrived at where we want to be, so no problem. Doesn't mean we can't pay homage to it by giving praise to its beauty.

 

[BigApplePi]

Makes sense, but then why is it that we do not communicate good, why do we not have a desire to share what is good or is that also reading too deep into language.

Not too sure that is true. Good is a done state. It is where we want to be. So it goes into our unconscious, continually shared everywhere and all the time. Maintenance is another issue. To maintain good we have to talk about evil.

 

[Bonbonnom]

So would it then be more reasonable to say that the vocabulary wouldn't be a particular cause for something like depression but instead is a flag to signify the strong presence of depression?

first off i think you mean lack of future tense, second i know there's a few other factors no big deal, and third yeah i understand, makes sense.

 

[Brontosaurie]

first off i think you mean lack of future tense, second i know there's a few other factors no big deal, and third yeah i understand, makes sense.

yeah future tense, what a weird mistake...

 

[MissQuote]

I think you just need a better Thesaurus.

I got mine out and the article on Good measured approximately nine and a half inches.

Whilst the article on Evil measured approximately six and a half inches.

/problem solved

 

[Bonbonnom]

You have a good thesaurus and i have a bad thesaurus. Mine went for two pages for bad but only slightly over a page for good.