The words "Good" and "Bad" mean nothing....?

Question

They are merely creations of the human mind, concepts forced upon society and of course society, being composed of mindless conformists, accepts them as law.

Agree / Disagree?

Answer 1

It depends if you think of things in terms of "good" and "bad" whether the words mean anything to you. If anything matters to you and you have desires and fears then you would tend to think the things you want are good and the things that scare you are bad. But of course one can look at things however one chooses.

Answer 2

They do have meanings! Just look it up in a dictionary xD

Yes, all words are creations of human mind. Society isn't even close to "being composed of mindless conformists." Look at all the people rebelling from society. I bet no one in this world resembles exsactly what society wants us to be. Also society is so broad. It normaly gives a variety of options, rather than just one.

Good and bad could be defined as having a positive or negative impact on the entire universe. Of course this means the only one who can KNOW what things are good or evil would be an omniscient being.

Answer 3

Couldn't agree more.

As the all free evaluator of the Universe, man ought to create his own individual values, understanding that they are neither intrinsic nor completely subjective. After all, if they were completely subjective, they would be invalid thoughts within an irrelevant mind. And since all values such as "good" and "bad" are in some ways relevant on the individual level, they are therefore somewhat important.

It is important to understand that man was born with reason, and through reason he must categorize nature to some extend or else become insane, despite the fact that nature doesn't necessarily come with a legible user's manual. So the dichotomy of "good" and "evil" are, well, good, given that they are dictated by the individual.

So to say they mean nothing is both true and untrue. To a nihilist, yes, they are in fact meaningless. But to an existentialist, they are probably the most meaningful words in the dictionary. In a sense, an existentialist has his own dictionary, and everything that falls under "good" or "evil" in it, is accordingly good and evil to him, and to him alone.

A nihilist, instead, has an empty vocabulary whose sole purpose is to communicate (which is in itself redundant because, to a nihilist, there is no verifiable reason to communicate).

Answer 4

Nobody merely accepts them. If they did, we would never have an argument.

But yes I agree that we do decide what is Good and Bad. While some of us our conformist, others break the old rules and write their own. You will find them always lurking in the fringes of every generation. The outcasts of today are forever pulling societies definitions in different directions.

Answer 5

I agree.

The concept of "good" is so fluid that in this country it means nurturing your daughter and protecting from all threats whereas in another country it means killing her if she has sex too soon. Each culture says that their response is good. How then can one define good? Whatever the community says it is? There is no universal "good" and this renders the concept basically meaningless to me.

I suppose, as a science minded person, I would like it to have some predictive value. And you have to understand a culture quite well in order to be able to predict what good is for them, which again means it's meaningless.

Answer 6

I think you're over-reacting a touch. To begin with language itself is a creation of the human mind.
It's rather ironic that the words you chose are actually incredibly versatile, and actually allows individuals to express themselves more freely because their meaning is so open to interpretation.
The meaning of the words "good"and "bad" are so situational that there is no standardized meaning to them.
Cannibalism is bad,right? Is it still bad if your plane crashed on Mt. Everest, and you are the sole survivor?

Answer 7

i would have to disagree, every creature knows the difference between right and wrong according to their society, it is in fact society forcing itself to confront the difference that creates right and wrong it is a concept that makes society function. in fact right and wrong are just words created to label an intrinsic feeling felt by anyone with a conscience. the basics are
Right = Acting while considering and accounting for the results of an action that affect others
Wrong = Acting in disregard to others to benefit yourself.

Answer 8

if you say so , not only this words "good' and "bad" but also all the words that we speak and write are just creations of human mind aren't they? I agree they are just a creation of human but
they didn't mean nothing is impossible ...

Answer 9

"Good" and "bad" are constructs created BY society to produce conformism. They started as the religious concept of "sin" and then became polarised. What is "good" in one culture may be "bad" in another, there is no hard-and-fast version of these concepts.

Answer 10

Nietzsche: 'Beyond Good and Evil'
Sartre: 'Being and Nothingness'
Foucault: 'Society must be Defended'