Literary notes about disservice (AI summary)
The term "disservice" has been employed in literature to convey a sense of harm or injury beyond mere physical damage—it often speaks to a moral or societal failing. In Emerson’s work, for example, it is succinctly equated with "injury," hinting at both personal and communal consequences [1]. Montaigne, however, uses the term to criticize overly cautious language that hampers human potential, suggesting that such verbal excesses would be "no great disservice" if overcome, thus linking the idea of disservice with intellectual as well as social liberation [2]. Meanwhile, in Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's narrative, the term appears within the interpersonal realm, where a final act of "disservice" is presented as an option, underscoring its weight in decisions affecting both honor and duty [3].