What is your definition of greed?

Question

There was a study done titled Disposition Greed published in 2014. Their definition of greed they use is ‘ ‘an insatiable desire for more resources, monetary or other’ ’ and I tend to agree with this. "Recently Veselka, Giammarco, and Vernon (2014) proposed a Vices And Virtues Scale (VAVS) measuring the seven sins, including greed. They define greed as ‘‘a tendency to manipulate and betray others for personal gain’’. This definition deviates considerably both from a lay understanding of greed and from various definitions of greed proposed in the academic literature. Although definitions of greed proposed in philosophy, sociology, psychology and economics differ in some respects, they all center on insatiability: no amount of a given commodity is ever sufficient. Insatiability also features in the Merriam-Webster (2013) definition of greed as ‘‘a selfish and excessive desire for more of something (as money) than is needed’’. Although the greed subscale of the VAVS does include two insatiability items, it also includes items about power, membership in exclusive groups and not sharing one’s ideas. In addition, most other items focus on money and wealth. In this 
 paper, we restrict the definition of greed to ‘‘an insatiable desire 
 for more resources, monetary or other’’. This definition not only 
 focuses more exclusively on the insatiability aspect that is central 
 in most existing definitions of greed but also extends the range of 
 phenomena and situations the concept of greed applies to and 
 allows the inclusion of mundane greedy behaviors, some of which 
 do not involve other people or financial gain. "

DoctorSex · Accepted Answer

Good question. Hoarding with the intension of storing instead of utilising.

Im a person who puts his money to work. If I'm paid £4000, I'm thinking of how to transform this money into labour.

For example I may hire multiple freelancers to take on projects for me... So although now I don't have £4000 in cash, what I do have instead, when I head to bed, is multiple people awake working hard to increase the value of my deposit.

As a result I give others a reason to wake up in the morning, an opportunity to sharpen their skills and overall improving the productivity of society.

Keeping enough for myself to live and pay your bills is sufficient and putting the rest into the market is how you avoid greed. Stockpiling money is greed.

Kind regards,

DoctorSex

blackgaletiger · Accepted Answer

I see greed as beyond contentment. The idea of exceeding more than sufficient. Greed for wealth or capital is one aspect that is seen as a negative point but a positive for my definition of greed is eduction. What we learn is not sufficient enough to content our existence. Greed and pride go hand and hand. We want more but the reasons could also be seen as a negative as well

12Volt · Accepted Answer

I worked at a snack shack at a country club. A very wealthy oil tycoon always stopped by and ordered a small Sprite. (I don't think he could afford a medium or large)

He demanded that you fill the cup to the very top. No one fills the cup to the very top! So I did my best, but ultimately some of the Sprite spills on the counter. Then he made me go back and fill it to the top, again. He would do this all day if you let him.

I finally just reached into my pocket and handed him a quarter, and told him to leave. His eyes twinkled as he looked at that shiny quarter, and he left. What a cheap fuck.