Black & White

[Anonymous No.6762101]

Can good exist without evil /lit/? Book recs for this question?

[Anonymous No.6762108]

well I guess not, read the Phenomenology of spirit

[Anonymous No.6762473]

No such thing as good or bad but thinking makes it so.

[Anonymous No.6763218]

Settle down anons and let me tell you a story.

This story takes place in ancient China during the period of the warring States.

There once was a wise old man. This man lived on a farm with his son. The farm they ran was famous for rearing horses.

One day one of the man's best horses ran away. The people in the neighboring village heard of this travesty and went go comfort the old man.

"What awful terrible luck!" They said.

The wise old man, wearing a mild expression, replied, "Maybe."

The villagers headed back to their village, confused as to why the man was not upset.

The next day, the horse returned, bringing with it a herd of wild horses. When the people in the neighboring village heard of this they came rushing back to the old man's house.

"What great luck you have!" They cheered.

The man, still holding a passive smile replied, "Maybe."

(cont 1/2)

[Anonymous No.6763232]

The next day, the man's son was training one of the wild horses when it bucked and whinied, sending the man crashing to the ground. He ended up breaking his leg.

When the townspeople heard of this they came trekking up the the farm.

"What a horrible thing to have happened!" they declared.

The old man replied "Maybe."

The next day the army came to draft all ablebodied men fromthe region. The son was inelligible because of his broken leg.

The peasants returned to the old man's house.

"My what am incredible bout off good fortune!" They declared.

The man replied "Maybe."

[Anonymous No.6763239]

>>6763218
>>6763232
oh shit negro the fucking chinks arrived

[Anonymous No.6763243]

>>6763218
>>6763232
i prefer it with 'we'll see'

[Anonymous No.6763246]

>Can good exist without evil
No

>Book recs for this question?
Demian by Hermann Hesse

[Anonymous No.6763256]

It's the same way you can't have darkness without light, but you can have light without darkness.

Good can exist without evil, but evil cannot exist without good to base it upon.


or as CS Lewis put it

>My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I gotten this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust? If the whole show was bad and senseless from A to Z, so to speak, why did I, who was supposed to be part of the show, find myself in such violent reaction against it? A man feels wet when he falls into water, because man is not a water animal: a fish would not feel wet. Of course I could have given up my idea of justice by saying it was nothing but a private idea of my own. But if I did that, then my argument against God collapsed too — for the argument depended on saying that the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my private fancies. Thus in the very act of trying to prove that God did not exist — in other words, that the whole of reality was senseless — I found I was forced to assume that one part of reality — namely my idea of justice — was full of sense. Consequently, atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.

[Anonymous No.6763264]

>>6763256

>Thus in the very act of trying to prove that God did not exist — in other words, that the whole of reality was senseless

[Anonymous No.6763268]

The "good/evil and light/dark depend on each other" argument has always been an argument from perception rather than reality. In actuality, the existence of light is not dependent on darkness, and darkness is not dependent on light, the same with good actions v. evil actions. Only it seems that in order for a human to understand the one, they need the contrast of the other.

[Anonymous No.6763270]

>>6763256
I like Lewis' writing but his apologetics are kind of pathetic. They sound like a man who's not very convinced of the existence of God trying to talk himself into believing it.

[Anonymous No.6763271]

>>6763243
i heard story a while ago. I think it was told to me as "Perhaps."

[Anonymous No.6763284]

>>6763218
>>6763232
>charlie wilson's war

[Anonymous No.6763288]

>>6763268
The existence of darkness is dependeth on light, as all life is

[Anonymous No.6763370]

>>6763218
>>6763232
may I ask the source of this chinaman?