Something is green if it emits or scatters much more light between 520 and 570 nm than between 400 and 520 nm or between 570 and 700 nm. That’s what greenmeans, and it also applies to places where there are no humans: it still makes sense to ask whether the skin of tyrannosaurs was green even though there were no humans back then. On the other hand, the reason why we find the concept of ‘something which emits or scatters much more light between 520 and 570 nm than between 400 and 520 nm or between 570 and 700 nm’ important enough to have a word (green) for it is that for evolutionary reasons we have cone cells which work in those ranges; if we saw in the ultraviolet, we might have a word, say breen, for ‘something which emits or scatters much more light between 260 and 285 nm than between 200 and 260 nm or between 285 and 350 nm’. This doesn’t mean that greenness is relative, though.
Likewise, something is good if it leads to sentient beings living, to people being happy, to individuals having the freedom to control their own lives, to minds exploring new territory instead of falling into infinite loops, to the universe having a richness and complexity to it that goes beyond pebble heaps, etc. That’s what goodmeans, and it also applies to places where there are no humans: it still makes sense to ask whether it’s good for Babyeaters to eat their children even though there are no humans on that planet. On the other hand, the reason why we find the concept of ‘something which leads to sentient beings living, to people being happy, to individuals having the freedom to control their own lives, to minds exploring new territory instead of falling into infinite loops, to the universe having a richness and complexity to it that goes beyond pebble heaps, etc.’ important enough to have a word (good) for it is that for evolutionary reasons we value such kind of things; if we valued heaps composed by prime numbers of pebbles, we might have a word, say pood, for ‘something which leads to lots of heaps with a prime number of pebbles in each’. This doesn’t mean that goodness is relative, though.
Let me try...
Something is green if it emits or scatters much more light between 520 and 570 nm than between 400 and 520 nm or between 570 and 700 nm. That’s what green means, and it also applies to places where there are no humans: it still makes sense to ask whether the skin of tyrannosaurs was green even though there were no humans back then. On the other hand, the reason why we find the concept of ‘something which emits or scatters much more light between 520 and 570 nm than between 400 and 520 nm or between 570 and 700 nm’ important enough to have a word (green) for it is that for evolutionary reasons we have cone cells which work in those ranges; if we saw in the ultraviolet, we might have a word, say breen, for ‘something which emits or scatters much more light between 260 and 285 nm than between 200 and 260 nm or between 285 and 350 nm’. This doesn’t mean that greenness is relative, though.
Likewise, something is good if it leads to sentient beings living, to people being happy, to individuals having the freedom to control their own lives, to minds exploring new territory instead of falling into infinite loops, to the universe having a richness and complexity to it that goes beyond pebble heaps, etc. That’s what good means, and it also applies to places where there are no humans: it still makes sense to ask whether it’s good for Babyeaters to eat their children even though there are no humans on that planet. On the other hand, the reason why we find the concept of ‘something which leads to sentient beings living, to people being happy, to individuals having the freedom to control their own lives, to minds exploring new territory instead of falling into infinite loops, to the universe having a richness and complexity to it that goes beyond pebble heaps, etc.’ important enough to have a word (good) for it is that for evolutionary reasons we value such kind of things; if we valued heaps composed by prime numbers of pebbles, we might have a word, say pood, for ‘something which leads to lots of heaps with a prime number of pebbles in each’. This doesn’t mean that goodness is relative, though.