Daily Dialectic

Why ‘good’ does more harm than…Doh!

Apart from the use of the word as a function standard, ‘good’ adds nothing to a conversation about anything. I suggest that replacing ‘good’ with ‘desirable’ (given a more than visceral understanding of desirable) only enhances clarity and makes conflation of purpose harder. It also forces a cogency to arguments that may not otherwise be asked for.

‘Good’ is too often used to make objective that which is a subjective claim. It’s the old trick of leaving off the subject of a sentence and thereby creating an ontological implication (what is the meaning of life - to…?) This is not to say that the only recourse is relativism, though at least that’s honest.

This makes what many see as The question of the 21st century - why be moral? - a bit of a wet rag.