Re: Gifts vs. Money

"Jonathan L Cunningham" <spam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1ilpxi3.sq6vevf42h1cN%spam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
David Friedman <ddfr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article <1ilovc2.7itzi81v9eh38N%spam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
spam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Jonathan L Cunningham) wrote:

Mary K. Kuhner <mkkuhner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

There may also be some "money is the root of all evil" cooties

I wonder where that came from? A more correct quote is "the love of
money is the root of all evil". There's a big difference.

I'd love to have more money - but that doesn't make me evil, because I
don't want it for its own sake, but for the things I could do with it.

That doesn't automatically make me innocent either: it depends what I
want to do with it. :-)

Indeed, wanting money just to pile it up in a chest strikes me as a
pretty unlikely candidate for "the root of all evil."

Actually, (and reading the responses down thread), I suspect that is
included in "evil" love of money. Presumably because there are better
uses of money than hoarding it, therefore hoarding is a waste (of
potential) and waste is evil.

That's got the logic backwards: if we take "love of money [etc.]" as a
starting point, then we can use that to infer that waste is evil, i.e.
waste is evil because (in this example) it derives from the love of
money, i.e the love of money is the root cause of (this) waste,
therefore this waste is evil.

There are still gaps in the logic[*] - but I suspect most people's eyes
would have glazed over by now, and they'd be edging away from me or
yawning ostentatiously, so I'll stop here. :-)

Jonathan
[*] I'm actually using abduction, which is unsound, rather than
deduction or induction. But abduction has its place. (<groan> you know,
I think this is the first time I've noticed that the word "abduction" as
used in logic and inference is the same as the everyday word for
kidnapping etc. - it's taken me over twenty years to notice that! Maybe
I've never written "abduction has its place" before?)

--
Jonathan L Cunningham

I take "love of money" as evil in the context that if you love money
(possessions), you fail to love God/other people.


--

Paul Howard (Alias Drak Bibliophile), AIM id DrakeBookLover
*
Sometimes The Dragon Wins! [Polite Dragon Smile]
*


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Relevant Pages

  • Re: TURMEL: Einstein on monopoly capitalism
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  • Re: Gifts vs. Money
    ... money is the root of all evil". ... I'd love to have more money - but that doesn't make me evil, ... potential) and waste is evil. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.composition)
  • Re: Trivial Pursuit errors
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