Quote:
Originally posted by jjl
So what is greed, contrasted with the ironical 'greed'?
For me, it is being unable to stop acquiring the necessities for a comfortable and productive life, seeing the process as an end in itself. It is also correlated with a need to have power over others. I put it to you that this is not exactly uncommon. Is this a definition of greed that you would be comfortable with? If not, what's yours?
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That sounds right as an external description. I think the psychological component would be intersting, too. Maybe "psychological" isn't the right word. I'm thinking of the motivation. Your description of being "unable to stop" makes it sound like a disorder of some sort.
In contrast, I think for some people it probably is a disorder. That is, they are unhappy with the desires and haven't developed a means of assimilating or rationalizing the desire. But I'll bet others are so self-absorbed that they do not see their behavior as a problem but as a virtue. This would be Headmaster Ebenezzar Scrooge of the Ayn Rand School of Social Justice.
Merry suitably innocuous observances to all who care to be so greated, and to all a generous passage of the solar irradiance.
Botnst