An Imperfect World

Abstract

The hallmark of greed is the impulse to appropriate the world, and especially the good in it, and in so doing to exclude others from the good and the world of good things. By having all that is good, the greedy seek to make themselves good, and by excluding others they seek to make them bad. This is what makes the greedy so illiberal, intolerant, and ultimately hateful: their aggressive refusal to share the world of the good with others. For the greedy, any world that must be shared is not good; it is imperfect and therefore bad. The end of the greedy then is to make the world perfect.