| | Doug,
Thanks for the interesting questions. You really know how to keep a guy honest. I will answer you simply and straight-forwardly (innocently). You ask me to explain the following:
In your first sentence you agree with John that altruists have changed the definition. In the next you allow for the altruist's definition to be an older one. My wording there could have been more intelligent. In order to alter something, it has to first exist! In short, I should not have used the word "alter" or "change" but, instead, should have said something like:
"Regardless of reality, the altruists manufacture a definition of something that fits their pet theory."
In some cases, there was a correct definition already in existence, and the altruists altered it to fit their whims. For instance, Aristotle talked about friendship and morality being self-based -- e.g., good friends are mirror images of ourselves; good morality benefits the individual.
Altruists changed Aristotle's 'definition' of friend to the "friend-in-need" (friends are then taken to be those folks for whom we sacrifice). They totally reversed his 'definition' of morality.
However, there may be times when the sinister altruists have come up with their own words -- like social justice, economic equality, greater good -- and proceeded to start off on the wrong foot (by creating their own definitions), rather than taking something that was right on track since Aristotle, and then derailing it to fit their whimsical, Utopian visions.
Could you please explain further why we should struggle to change a term's meaning from both its origin and popular meaning? Doug, did you read the link to my article about "reciprocal altruism?"
In that article, I show how "reciprocal altruism" is an 'anti-concept.' This -- when there's an anti-concept -- is one of those times where we should struggle to change a term's meaning. The reason we should do that is because it lets us be more clear and less contradictory (clarity and non-contradiction being really good things for us to have).
Ed
(Edited by Ed Thompson on 11/13, 5:30pm)
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