What is the opposite of help?: Philosophy Forums

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What is the opposite of help?

Minyun
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1 of 1 people found this post helpful Posted 05/27/09 - 04:31 AM: Subject: What is the opposite of help?	#1
Does it have a defined word/meaning? I've been looking around and it appears difficult to define what 'non help' is. If I were harsh to someone in the hopes of helping him, and that person thought that I wasn't helping him, who can be proved right/wrong with regards to if help was or wasn't apparent? If it turns out that 'non help' cannot be defined, then it must be obvious that we are incapable of 'non help'. This means that ALL of us want to help in some way, wether we do it from an evil perspective or from a good perspective. Can we define 'non help' without it having any contradictions?

Maxvilly
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Posted 05/27/09 - 05:54 PM:	#2
Great topic and I agree on said theory. It's an system, it is. I can't think of an opposite of Help, but we could always create one from thin air. Hell-p Here's another one. Good - god. Evil, it is.
The greatest philosophy of all time is... The one philosopher, who wasn't brought up and taught on how to think. Become the one to think and believe for himself.

Incision
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Posted 05/27/09 - 10:28 PM:	#3
Not help. Or hindrance. You hinder someone if you make them worse off, or prevent them from reaching their goal. So if you could prove that your harshness made them better off, or assisted in reaching their goal, you could prove you helped. Also, if "nonhelp" can't be defined, that doesn't mean that "I nonhelped" is false -- I believe this is a common confusion. If "nonhelp" is meaningless, then "I nonhelped" is meaningless, and therefore neither true nor false. And if "nonhelp" is meaningless, then "help" is too, so "everyone wants to help" is also meaningless. Edited by Incision on 05/27/09 - 10:35 PM

Minyun
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Posted 05/27/09 - 11:59 PM:	#4
And if "nonhelp" is meaningless, then "help" is too, so "everyone wants to help" is also meaningless. Ha, seeing it from this angle means alot. Thank you.

Mako
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Posted 05/28/09 - 03:25 AM:	#5
"What is the opposite of help? " A Hard Day's Night Seriously, incision seems to have had the right idea, unless the opposite is supposed to be something ironic and a-little-too-cutesy-clever. One connotation of the word 'resist' could also serve as the opposite of 'help' as well. It seems that we're capable of 'non-help' to the extent that we're capable of adopting the 'intention' (or disposition) of not acting in support of someone's class of reasons/goals/strategies. Re 'non-help' as a tough-love strategy: If someone were' behaving harshly in order to purportedly help someone (i.e. tough love), if they could provide a 'justification for that strategy, that 'might' support their use of that method. However, one could never determine with certainty what their actual intention was. One would have to look at it in context, in relation to other behaviours/policies toward an individual or group, in order to get a better idea of their true intentions, but even then, one could never be absolutely sure. Either way, 'non-help' need not involve purposively acting 'against'' someone's set of reasons but merely not acting 'in support of them . Non-help can thus be a passive/negative strategy rather than an active/positive one. Why that word in particular? If I may ask, are you writing an essay on a particular topic? Mako Edited by Mako on 05/28/09 - 03:42 AM
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Minyun
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Posted 05/28/09 - 03:54 AM:	#6
One would have to look at it in context, in relation to other behaviours/policies toward an individual or group, in order to get a better idea of their true intentions, but even then, one could never be absolutely sure. These are the words I was looking for when i asked Can we define 'non help' without it having any contradictions? I was just interested in wether we could prove 'non help', to be sure, it seems impossible. one could never be absolutely sure because if I/we couldn't prove 'non help' then everything I/we do would be to help. If that makes sense? For example a common lawsuit where the daughter sues the father for beating her to hard. He could claim he was helping while the daughter could claim that he was not. When the context in relation to other behaviours/policies seems to be in order and does nothing to prove one side or the other, then it must come to a draw between them. I have never heard of a 'draw' so to speak in a court of law. Is there such a thing?

Mako
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Posted 05/28/09 - 04:11 AM:	#7
Minyun wrote: "I have never heard of a "draw" so to speak in a court of law. Is there such a thing?" I believe in all North American jurisdictions (i.e. federal, state/provincial), all criminal law verdicts are either 'guilty' or 'not guilty.' In civil suits, a judge may 'disregard' the verdict (i.e. make a judgement 'notwithstanding the verdict.' In criminal law, the general principle is that there is 'no' third verdict. (e.g. a 'draw'). A 'hung jury' results in a mistrial in which case new proceedings on the same charges must be re-intitiated. Mako Edited by Mako on 05/28/09 - 04:22 PM
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123savethewhales
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Posted 05/28/09 - 10:45 AM:	#8
First thing first, "help" isn't a standalone word. Although it seems to be use a lot that way as a mean for people to justify their own actions, like how little children answer with "Cause". "Help" is actually meaningless without defining what you are helping with in each case. "Not help" is everything else, action or non action, that isn't help. From a neutral state of indifference, to active sabotage. So technically speaking not help is no different for all the other not (insert a verb). Since it's such a large group, you most likely would not find one word to describe them all. "Not help" might be the best description the English language has. When it comes to the father vs daughter case, again it comes down to help with what. If father and daughter does not have the same goal, then the "help" from father and "not help" from daughter are describing two very different things. Of course how successful each of them are in their goal is another problem. It isn't helping if the goals are not meet. Intent to help and the actual state of help are two very different things. Edited by 123savethewhales on 05/28/09 - 11:17 AM
Keep it simple.

vOlition
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Posted 05/30/09 - 03:13 AM:	#9
Semantics! Meaning comes from within our mind not from within our words. Meaning can exist without words to describe it. Words are only a summation of our inner dialogue and thus you should look for meaning beyond the words.

Minyun
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Posted 05/30/09 - 01:09 PM:	#10
Semantics! Meaning comes from within our mind not from within our words. Meaning can exist without words to describe it. Words are only a summation of our inner dialogue and thus you should look for meaning beyond the words. I agree, however specifics are the basis for communication and communication allows us to know eachother and our world around us, so we must investigate if 'non help' exists or does not exist for a better life. Who would know that love existed, and who could agree with what it was, if there were no word for it. You know that feeling you get when you here a good song, or watch a good movie... that tingling feeling, maybe in your legs or up your spine? What is that feeling, do you have it aswell? If we had a word for it, life would be better because then we could both agree on it (according to these forums anyway )

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