CHART
Showing the distribution of the 79 significations of the word “Good.”
(Explanation in text.)
Key
= First Choice.
= Second Choice.
= Third Choice.
= Fourth Choice.
= Not Chosen.
Classes A B C D E
In this connection one important thing must be borne in mind. Which is, that in attempting to reach our final definition of “good” we need only to abstract the common characteristic,—in mathematical parlance,—the greatest common divisor of all the particular uses for which this word is employed. Consequently the definition we are searching for cannot be expected to have any bias toward private or provincial conceptions of the term “good.” It must be catholic and unpartisan.
The Action-Patterns Implied by the Use of the Word “Good”
We are now prepared to answer the question propounded at the opening of this chapter: “What do we mean by the word ‘good’? That is to say, how shall we describe the action-pattern which the stimulus of this word arouses in us?” For if we can find out “what the organism is doing” when its vocal organs are uttering this concept, we shall be able to discover what the word “good” means.