Difference between revisions of "Banality of good"

Revision as of 14:34, 3 March 2015

The banality of good, along with it's corollary, the malignancy of evil is a concept of Christian ethics evil deeds carry much more weight than good ones. This truth can be observed in creation in that order is precious and delicate, but that destruction and chaos are easy to achieve. A small amount of poison can contaminate a well, but a vast amount of water is required to dilute it to the point of safety, and no amount of dilution can truly remove the poison. The banality of good underlies the Christian concept of sin and the fallen nature of mankind which is often misunderstood to mean that mankind is "more bad than good" but which actually means that humans, no matter how good they behave, cannot help but be sinful in nature because of the malignancy of evil which poisons the whole well. The Bible teaches that all people sin and are falling short of the 100% standard required of them. Since no-one is able to meet this standard, humans are equally guilty before God of "missing the mark".

Ecclesiasties 9:18-10:1

Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good. Dead flies make the perfumer's ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

"The toil of all that be

Helps not the primal fault

It rains into the sea

And still the sea is salt" - A. E. Housman

Analogies and examples

Drinking water is necessary for life, but drinking poison results in death. Imagine a glass of pure water and one of pure poison; only the pure water is drinkable, but any mixture of the two is undrinkable. Whether your glass contains only one drop of poison, or if it contains 50% or 100% poison, it's result is the same, the drinkers will end up equally dead.

It is far easier to destroy than to build - a house that took months to build can be bulldozed in a few hours or blown up in a few seconds.

Inserting characters at random into computer code, or amino acids into DNA is far more likely to result in errors, than in benefits.

Entropy

Within physics, The second law of thermodynamics holds that within a given system, overall [entropy] or "disorder" will always increase until it reaches a state of maximum entropy. This physical law, is parallel to the principle of the banality of good in that every action undertaken to increase order locally inevitably does so at the expense of order elsewhere, so that entropy is maintained and the second law remains true.

Game theory

In a branch of mathematics known as "game theory" The prisoners dilemma and Nash equilibria.

Implications

An understanding of the banality of good (and the malignancy of evil) leads the farmer to be skeptical of biocides which are intended to deal with a specific problem, but often end up creating problems bigger than the original issue they were intended to address. Within the fields of medicine and bio-ethics, a principle precept is Primum non nocere or first, do no harm. This principle which is taught as a fundamental to all healthcare students and is an element of the hippocratic oath, is based on the understanding that sometimes actions taken with good intentions result in great harm because of the banality of good concept. Despite being widespread, this principle of "do no harm" is often marginalized with modern medical practices such as chemotherapy and antibiotics, just as in earlier practices such as blood letting, and lobotomies, where the "cure" sometimes as bad as the disease.