By Kevin Jimoh 
Is it possible to attain peace on accident?
Can a civilization exist without rules?
Lawlessness, dysfunction, disorder, chaos and everything that’s needed to make something bad happen.
What is the root of “good”? Is it simply something that is “not bad”?
If that’s the case, then why do we have “not bad” be it’s own phrase, to mean something that’s lower than good?
It implies that maybe good and bad is a spectrum, and everything falls somewhere in between the extremes.
So given that it’s a spectrum, this means that good and bad can also be expressed as “less bad”, and “less good”, I’d say.
The ability to express positive feelings by their comparison to negative feelings adjoins them to the same spectrum, and thus links them as multiple ways to describe one absolute property that is difficult to coin without the use of the two words in tandem.
If I had to try, however, I think that the unified property that emerges would be something like the word “quality”.
The word “quality”, given a definition of how good or bad something is, would essentially take on the role of describing the intrinsic value of an object to us. Economic descriptor, in some sense, deeply personal in another.
Further still, where do we even get our idea for what “less bad” even means? What are we comparing the subject to, and ultimately deciding that our subject in question is “less bad” than?
I think there are probably multiple ways to answer that, that will likely vary by person, by circumstance, by phase of the moon.
But to name a few ways you could likely compare:
Less bad than the alternative
Basically taking in mind all the other options that could realistically (or sometimes unrealistically) take the place of the subject in question.
Less bad than the worst possible thing I’ve experienced
This one would be a bit different, in that it’s more about comparing the negative feeling elicited on the affected party. For example, you made a cake that wasn’t my ideal flavor, but my mom also died recently so the cake mishap would prove to be ultimately inconsequential. It might even veer all the way back to feeling subjectively positive for me, because in comparison to my mom dying, you worked so hard to cheer me up, and this would trend toward absolute positive in my worldview by comparison.
One might even say that I might adopt the view that since you were with me when the worst possible thing could have happened to me and gave me something slightly positive, that I might say that you’re the best thing that has happened to me, simply by comparison and being there when my definition of quality was being reshaped, whereas under normal circumstances, if someone makes you a cake it’s certainly a nice thing to do, but that wouldn’t secure that person’s place in your mind’s eye alone, especially if it were not your favorite flavor.
Less bad than what usually happens in this situation, globally (or at least my subjective recollection of global events)
This one is pretty self-explanatory. If on average, most people get a car for their 16th birthday and you do not, then you might consider yourself misfortunate.
But if most people you know have to pay bills at 18 years old, and you do not, then you might view yourself as lucky.
I personally think that this version of “quality” is the most well-balanced. If society is good and running smoothly, you’re likely to find something to smile about today. The world will likely keep itself turning, after all.