Positive equals Negative

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Inspectah Deck
Do positive actions equal negative ractions?

Shakyamunison
Originally posted by Inspectah Deck
Do positive actions equal negative ractions?

Sometime that is what happens.

WrathfulDwarf
Judge for yourself:

Scenerio: I give a homeless man two dollars so that he can get something to eat. Instead of buying food....he saves it and use it to buy alcohol. He gets drunks and gets in a fight with another drunk. The homeless man kills the other drunk.

Conclusion: I gave the man money as charity. He missused and became careless...My positive became a negative.

Mindship
As the saying goes, "No good deed goes unpunished."

Atlantis001
Originally posted by Inspectah Deck
Do positive actions equal negative ractions?

I would say no. Thats like asking is 2 = 3. You have to be more specific in what way you are comparing positive and negative.

The Black Ghost
This is some quote I heard: "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

If youve seen the third Star Wars (no doubt most everyone has) you know that Anakin thinks he is doing everything he is to save the girl but he actually brings about his own destruction and everyone elses...


Still, what is done with good intentions is still good... its just that the outcome could be negative.

Traya
A great example of this is in Star War: Knights of the Old Republic II. You give a poor beggar some credits. Your mentor then shows you what happens to him, another beggar robs him and leaves him for dead...

Inspectah Deck
Originally posted by Atlantis001
I would say no. Thats like asking is 2 = 3. You have to be more specific in what way you are comparing positive and negative.

I beg to differ. Excellent examples are:

Originally posted by WrathfulDwarf
Judge for yourself:

Scenerio: I give a homeless man two dollars so that he can get something to eat. Instead of buying food....he saves it and use it to buy alcohol. He gets drunks and gets in a fight with another drunk. The homeless man kills the other drunk.

Conclusion: I gave the man money as charity. He missused and became careless...My positive became a negative.
Originally posted by The Black Ghost
This is some quote I heard: "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

If youve seen the third Star Wars (no doubt most everyone has) you know that Anakin thinks he is doing everything he is to save the girl but he actually brings about his own destruction and everyone elses...


Still, what is done with good intentions is still good... its just that the outcome could be negative.

Rayvann
Every choice we make can have either positive or negitive reactions. Traya pretty much summed it up.

Atlantis001
Yeah, these were nice examples. Its interesting how good and evil seem to be very relative thinking in this way.

Since one apparently "positive" action can bring negative results, and vice-versa, maybe positive and negative can be better defined as intentions. I mean, maybe it is not the action that is good or bad, but it is the intention.

Inspectah Deck
eek!

docb77
I say yes and no. Mathematically positive = negative when you're referring to magnitudes or absolute values. So + does = -.

The no is the philosophy part. The fact that some negative outcome happened after a positive act doesn't change the fact that the act was positive.

The equation that some people are making is:

positive action/intention = negative outcome.

The way I see it is more sequential:

positive action/intention + negative action/actions = negative outcome

redcaped
No, there's no such thing, just observation.

ðµhµl gê†ñåh
this is going by standards, what is wrong to u is may not be (but could be) wrong to me, and what is right may be wrong, its all got to do with opinions. so infact yes positive=negative=positive=negative.

AOR
Originally posted by WrathfulDwarf
Judge for yourself:

Scenerio: I give a homeless man two dollars so that he can get something to eat. Instead of buying food....he saves it and use it to buy alcohol. He gets drunks and gets in a fight with another drunk. The homeless man kills the other drunk.

Conclusion: I gave the man money as charity. He missused and became careless...My positive became a negative.


Reminds me of the KOTOR II Scenario Kreia give you eek!

"And that is my lesson to you. Be careful of charity and kindness, lest you do more harm with open hands than with a clenched fist"

Janus Marius
Originally posted by Inspectah Deck
Do positive actions equal negative ractions?

This is obvious; of course.

As a follow up question I ask: What difference does it make for us since this is the case? I can offer a tylenol to a friend for a headache and it makes him sick because he's actually allergic and neither of us knew. Philosophically, what problem does this present? I don't see one. The action and intent were obviously not tainted... Only a consequentialist would concern himself with this as a problem.

Lord Urizen
Originally posted by redcaped
No, there's no such thing, just observation.

PROVE that there is no such thing as a negative or positive.

Regret
Originally posted by Inspectah Deck
Do positive actions equal negative ractions?

Do positive actions equal negative reactions? The question needs to be stated in a more clearly/defined manner.

Are we speaking in a general sense? Or are we speaking in some karmic sense? Or are we speaking literal, I do this positive thing and the effect of the act on something else is a negative reaction? Or perhaps I do a positive act, and I am thus afflicted with a negative reaction (e.g. I throw my arm forward, and in consequence I lose the energy it took to move my arm forward.)



Here is a question based on a hypothetical idea I had, it follows a similar line of thought I think.

A man holds in his hand a gun. The man points the gun at another man and fires. The other man is thrown back, the bullet piercing his chest and exiting through his back. The bullet hits in a position such that death is nearly instantaneous. Blood spatters in a predictable pattern behind the man. The man shot has a large family. His family mourns for a period of time. His children grow up and have a more difficult time than they would have had the father lived. The children fail in achieving above lower class due to the lack of the presence the father would have had. Their children are unable to rise out of poverty and turn to crime. and so on and so on.

Let us use a physics example to define the chain of action and reaction. Let us say that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and we will apply it not only to the initial physical action, but also to the psychological actions and reactions. Was the initial thought that decided to pull the trigger and shoot the man equal to everything that occurred as a result of the action? Was it equal to some point of the reaction? At what point would the midpoint occur where we would divide the two to sides to examine equality in such a situation? Other ideas?

Whatever your responses, is the idea an interesting one?

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