The dictionary is skewed because it too has defined the words using judeo-christian ethics. Obviously a slanted and myopic definition of the words.
GREED encompasses anything one desires to acquire for oneself. Actually, I am slightly at fault here, because I should have said "rational greed". Irrational greed would be the desire to seek power over others (such as Stalin or Saddam Hussein), to acquire material things or power through the violation of others' rights, etc. Greed in itself is not bad, just as a knife in itself is not bad -- it can be used to chop vegetables or slit a person's throat. I stand by my statement that GREED counterbalances by FEAR drives all human actions and interactions. They are the foundation of the "invisible hand" that Adam Smith spoke of in his analysis of free market economics.
Every human enterprise and experience be it business, the arts, society, politics, the sciences, love, even religion, has, as its launching pad, greed and/or fear.
FT |
