Comments on: What does one call something that contains the seeds of its own downfall?

Question: What does one call something that contains the seeds of its own downfall?

viewofdelft — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 11:54:40 -0800

What does one call something that contains the seeds of its own downfall?

I'm looking for a word (preferably in English) meaning "a thing which contains the seeds of its own downfall/destruction/failure."

This seems like the type of question that may have already been asked but I searched and found nothing. Thanks.

By: underwater

underwater — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:00:36 -0800

It would help if you could give an example. Does Oedipus count? The tragic flaw of the protagonist of a tragedy is called "hamartia". Do you mean something like a viscious cycle, or a catch-22?

I'm trying to think of something that has a downfall but doesn't contain the seeds of that downfall. I can't.

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:01:52 -0800

Tragic, if you're being precise with "tragedy."
Tragically-flawed, or self-destructive otherwise.

By: spicynuts

spicynuts — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:08:37 -0800

Hubristic? Is that a word?

By: riotgrrl69

riotgrrl69 — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:13:34 -0800

I'd say "condemned" is probably the closest you'll find. Or some phrase involving "doomed". "Reprobate" fits exactly, but its meaning is diluted these days.

By: voidcontext

voidcontext — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:15:18 -0800

Fatally flawed.

By: muddgirl

muddgirl — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:17:36 -0800

My first instinct was tragic, in the strictest definition of the word.

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:18:27 -0800

Achilles Heel?
Inherently Flawed?

By: MrMoonPie

MrMoonPie — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:22:26 -0800

Look at the wikipedia entry on hamartia. If that's not the exact thing you're looking for, you might get other ideas there, at least.

By: frogan

frogan — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:35:11 -0800

A time-bomb.

By: unknowncommand

unknowncommand — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:35:41 -0800

Planned obsolescence, kind of.

By: greycap

greycap — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:37:25 -0800

Hubristic is indeed a word and would seem appropriate.

By: rhizome

rhizome — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:40:29 -0800

Hamartia is the flaw, hubris is the behavior that does not acknowledge it.

By: orthogonality

orthogonality — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:43:13 -0800

Hastert-y.

By: cowbellemoo

cowbellemoo — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:44:53 -0800

the accursed?

By: nebulawindphone

nebulawindphone — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:54:52 -0800

A self-limiting behavior is one whose consequences will discourage or prevent a subject from repeating it.

When a situation can't last long by its own nature, you call it "fragile" or "unstable."

But underwater's got a good point. The very word "downfall" (as opposed to more neutral ones like "bad luck" or "failure") suggests a tragic situation in which the end was implicit in the beginning.

By: bonecrusher

bonecrusher — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:56:54 -0800

In Marxist terms, this would be an "inherent contradiction". But that's two words...

By: vito90

vito90 — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 13:01:41 -0800

Hoisted on their own petard.

By: spicynuts

spicynuts — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 13:04:35 -0800

Since people are ignoring the one word rule, I believe Etta James said, "The same rope/that lifts you up/sure can hang ya".

By: witchstone

witchstone — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 13:06:36 -0800

Human

By: rmhsinc

rmhsinc — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 13:37:37 -0800

There is a term in biology that might have merit--Try Apoptosis--programmed self destruction. From Wikipedia:
In biology, apoptosis (from the Greek words apo = from and ptosis = falling, commonly pronounced ap-a-tow'-sis[1]) is one of the main types of programmed cell death (PCD). As such, it is a process of deliberate life relinquishment by a cell in a multicellular organism. In contrast to necrosis, which is a form of cell death that results from acute cellular injury, apoptosis is carried out in an ordered process that generally confers advantages during an organism's life cycle.

By: Mr. Gunn

Mr. Gunn — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 13:52:07 -0800

You just know there's a German word for that exact thing.

By: alms

alms — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 14:15:11 -0800

self-contradictory
self-limiting
hypocritical
oxymoronic
unsustainable
sauronic

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 14:18:22 -0800

You just know there's a German word for that exact thing.

Selbstverdammerung.

By: MetaMonkey

MetaMonkey — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 14:26:05 -0800

Self-defeating?

Hamartia is the 'seed' itself, so perhaps there is an ancient greek word for 'the person or thing that has the hamartia'.

By: rob511

rob511 — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 15:09:55 -0800

cancerous

By: whatitis

whatitis — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 15:25:01 -0800

arrgh, the exact word escapes me right now, but isn't there another word from marxist theory, a single one, which is just this?

By: nebulawindphone

nebulawindphone — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 15:37:34 -0800

Apoptosis is nice. I'd suggest apoptotic for an adjective if it didn't sound like a crispy snack made out of toddlers.

By: whatitis

whatitis — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 15:38:00 -0800

okay, found it, and it's probably not quite what you were looking for:

dialectic

- the juxtaposition or interaction of conflicting ideas, forces, etc.
- The contradiction between two conflicting forces viewed as the determining factor in their continuing interaction.
- The Marxian process of change through the conflict of opposing forces, whereby a given contradiction is characterized by a primary and a secondary aspect, the secondary succumbing to the primary, which is then transformed into an aspect of a new contradiction. Often used in the plural with a singular or plural verb.

By: -harlequin-

-harlequin- — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 17:01:40 -0800

"star-crossed" seems close, but perhaps the astrology flavour might imply an external rather than internal reason for the inevitablity of the doom.

By: ikkyu2

ikkyu2 — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 18:12:32 -0800

The term nemesis has been used to mean something similar:

This is that ancient doctrine of nemesis who keeps watch in the universe, and lets no offense go unchastised.

--Emerson.

Nemesis was literally the goddess of retributive justice, i.e. the personification or literalization of retributive justice. It came to symbolize, at least in some usages, the idea that evildoing contains the seeds of its own inevitable downfall.

"Karma" is, of course, the same idea from the Hindus, but it is not restricted to negative outcomes.

By: unSane

unSane — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 21:26:05 -0800

The earlier comments of 'tragic' and 'tragic flaw' are exactly right. By definition, in a tragedy, the hero's 'tragic flaw' brings about his/her own downfall.

Apoptosis/apoptotic is tempting but you'd have to explain what it meant every time you used it.

By: sgobbare

sgobbare — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 22:23:56 -0800

How about Duh!

By: sgobbare

sgobbare — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 05:39:30 -0800

Or better yet, D'oh!

By: graymouser

graymouser — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 08:01:15 -0800

This is a basically Marxist idea; I would say that the Marxist use of the word "contradictory" is as close as it gets, but the sense "Capitalism is contradictory in that it creates the proletariat, which is the vehicle for its own destruction." doesn't seem quite right. It's more "Capitalism entails a contradiction..." which is not quite one word. I think the problem is that a system or thing contains a contradiction, rather than being a contradiction.

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 06:03:45 -0800

It's actually basically a Greek idea...