Words needed!

[muckefuck]

Last night, I was telling Monshu about a recent discussion of moral philosophy I had with a neighbour. (I'll spare you the details this entry, since I hope to post about the discussion later when my head isn't so heavy.) I was trying to remember a name for the ethical system that has preserving societal harmony as it's goal. No, I don't mean "communism", because it's not specifically statist (let alone dialectal) and I don't mean "utilitarianism", because its goal isn't to increase "happiness" per se. I sure as hell don't mean "Objectivism"! This is a consequentialist ethics which proscribes actions that increase distrust and disorder. Anybody know what I'm talking about?

And I need a sniglet. When I clean, I find that my long hairs have combined over time with what may have been ordinary lint to form nasty strands of gunk. "Lint" and "hair" both suggest dry, fluffy waste that is easily swept up. This stuff is damp and clingy. What shall we call it?

Oh, and if anyone knows the A-Team theme song, could you call me at work and hum it? A co-worker asked me for it yesterday and I'm GOING OUTTA MY FREAKIN' MIND trying to recall it. It's not like I didn't watch that show every single week for the better part of my childhood, but whenever I start off, I segue into the Raiders of the Lost Ark theme and cannot find my way back.

Comments

[welcomerain.livejournal.com]

http://www.geocities.com/matt_nyc/ateam/

[rollick.livejournal.com]

And I need a sniglet. When I clean, I find that my long hairs have combined over time with what may have been ordinary lint to form nasty strands of gunk. "Lint" and "hair" both suggest dry, fluffy waste that is easily swept up. This stuff is damp and clingy. What shall we call it?

I think you need to worry less about finding a name for it and worry more about the fact that dry hair + dry lint = damp, clingy stuff.

I think you have two kinds of sloughed-off stuff mating in your corners and under your bed, and you're catching it in the sweaty post-throes, and if you leave it too long, it will multiply and TAKE OVER YOUR HOUSE.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Too late!

[rollick.livejournal.com]

Perhaps, then, "master" is the word you should be using for the stuff.

Suggestions From Ken

[(Anonymous)]

Perhaps you mean "communitarianism," although I've mostly seen that peddled as a kind of soft-focus grass-roots liberalism than as an actual ethical system. Or perhaps you mean "Confucianism," although you'd presumably know that better than I, since you know Confucianism better than I, but your definition didn't sound like a bad one to me. Many political philosophies (like Confucianism, and most pre-Marxist communisms such as Owenism) do value "fraternité" above the other two revolutionary virtues (although in practice it always seems to become "Ordnung" instead), with "egalité" as an occasional means to that end.

And now *I've* got the "A-Team" theme stuck in my head, and I didn't even watch the damn show. Thanks a lot.

Re: Suggestions From Ken

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Except Confucianism is statist. (One of the Six Relationships, which structure all social interactions, is that of Ruler and Subject.) Plus, I didn't have a specific ethical system in mind, I'm looking for a descriptive cover term for certain systems that attempt to define a consensual framework for regulating civil society that doesn't require one to invoke the dictates of a divine being.

I think I'm just going to have to read some ethics until the term pops out at me.

[cruiser.livejournal.com]

If you don't have sound for your web access, email me with your work phone and I'll hum it for you.