Abraham Lincoln said, "All human actions are caused by motives, and at the bottom of these motives are self". Do you agree or disagree that all human actions driven by selfishness?
Abraham Lincoln said, “All human actions are caused by motives, and at the bottom of these motives are self”. Do you agree or disagree that all human actions driven by selfishness?
Or, is it true that Mr. Lincoln, as some historians have concluded, was simply just a fatalist? What motives do we have to perform acts of kindness?
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Yes
That was a piece of cake to answer… anything?
this is definitely common, but i wouldnt say all humans do this. i’ve met a few genuine people only a few though
Of course it’s true. Self-preservation is the strongest and most basic instinct any organism has. Whether it’s a fox chewing off its own leg to escape from a bear trap or a person kissing ass to get a promotion, self-preservation is most likely the cause of everything we do. Even those who believe they are motivated by selflessness and the desire to help others most likely are doing it for themselves in some way, perhaps to feel better about themselves for doing good deeds.
Saying that all actions are based on the self isn’t saying that everyone is selfish. It’s just human nature. It is selflessness that unusual throughout wold species; it is one thing that could be said to separate humans from other animals. We have developed empathy for others due to our social nature which leads to helping others in ways that many other species do not. Real selfishness is when someone does something to benefit only themselves without caring about others, completely disregarding that empathy that we have developed.
All motivations are temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself.
Well you could argue that yes, but some people don’t distinguish the self from the cosmos, so they may act in what they consider to be in the intrest of an all encompassing self as opposed to an infantisimal germ of a self, who imagines their survival to be the whole universes most pressing imperative.
It is possible that Lincoln may not have been right about everything.
Yes. Every time.
Selfishness is not a bad thing. Only to the one getting the short end of the stick.
And that is life. ying and yang.
Maybe not all human motives, but a great deal of them are, I believe, driven by self.
Self is not the same as selfishness. People can act because they have empathy, because they believe their actions contribute, a lot of altruistic reasons. Each of us decide what we will do-that is the self decides. To assume selfishness is too much of a leap.
I think it’s true for the most part. I tried to think of an example where selfishness wouldn’t be the case and I thought about someone doing a good deed. Even then, though, why do we do the good deed? Maybe to make us feel good about ourselves. Sure, some people might do it out of the kindness of their hearts, but if it didn’t make us feel good, would we still do it? I think the people who do good things for others at an expense to themselves could be exceptions to this.
What is an instinct for survival but an instinct to preserve the self?
And what is an instinct to protect others but an instinct to preserve the greater body of which we are a part?
A definition of “selfishness” would be an essential part of a meaningful answer.
Hope this helps you with your essay.
Feeling good is not the same as being selfish, in fact normal people feel bad when they are selfish’ That’s why so much energy is invested in self justification and denial-to try and suppress the bad feelings that follow selfish behavior.
I just get the feeling that have selfish behavior is a bad thing. A dirty word.
It is not.
You love you partner? I bet you are selfish about it.
That yummy bowl of ice cream. Selfish.
Some clams and spaghetti. Shellfish.
Your home, family and property. Selfish.
Never a problem for the haves, just for the “have nots”.
It’s important not to confuse “motivated by self” with “motivated by selfishness”.
“Self preservation is the first law of nature.” That being said, it is sometimes hard to distinguish between selfish concern for one’s emotional investment (in a loved one, say) and altruism.
who would ever do something they didn’t at some basic level want to do?
(besides being “raped” for example.. talking about things people are motivated to do. eg. smoking cigs at a young age in order to avoid being harassed by peers.)
Here’s the problem. Like @ChazMaz said, people assume that “selfishness” is a bad thing. However, it usually is.
This is the definition of selfishness: characterized by or manifesting concern or care only for oneself. The key here is “only”. I also believe definitions use “primarily” along with “only”. In other words, a selfish person is someone who cares mainly for themselves and neglects to care for others. We all display acts that are concerned with the self and are motivated by the self, but that doesn’t mean that we are all unconcerned with others. Many of the things we do are selfish because they concern ourselves and no one else. But many of the things we do are not.
When you do something kind for someone else, are you doing it because it makes you feel good or because it makes the other person feel good? I think that even if it makes you feel good, as long as you have concern for the other person and are satisfied with their satisfaction, then you are not “selfish” because you are doing it for them.
Either way, the term is thrown around way too much in an accusatory way and a hypocritical way, mainly because we all do things that have selfish motives, but we love to point it out when other people do it.
But yeah, I pretty much agree with Lincoln, but I don’t think he was meaning to say that all humans are only concerned with themselves. A truly selfish person does not care about other people, but most humans do care about at least one other person.
In my opinion, selfishnes is never a bad thing.
ignorance is the only sin.
simple example as i’m out of time: If a person is trying to be selfish and live the best possible life for themselves but they ignorantly fail to see the benefits they would receive by Sharing, what will happen? They will lose friends and live a lonely life. Because they were ignorant of the fact that the BEST way to behave is to share, they will miss out on the benefits. Hence, ignorance is the problem for them. Not the selfishness.
Selfishness is great as long as you know the best things to pursue in life.
Even people who seem altruistic ultimately help others because it feels good.
As @the100thmonkey said, “It’s important not to confuse “motivated by self” with “motivated by selfishness”.”
There are 2 ways to explain this. The quick and easy way is to say that an action is caused by a need for self-preservation, which is slowly becoming a “dirty” concept. (Which I disagree with, but will come back to in a more appropriate thread). Or, the more drawn out explanation is it that you created your decision, for your personal reasons. You don’t let others decide your fate.
Doing this does not have to mean you’re a complete ass. As @ParaParaYukiko said, we’ve developed empathy and can choose to let it influence our decisions. Thus, you can still make a “selfish” decision and take into account other people’s situations. And as everyone else has pointed out here, there is no truly selfless good deed performed. Most people do good deeds because it makes them feel good. The truly Selfless deed would be giving money to a homeless person and honestly not caring about the outcome.
I don’t know about you guys, but I’ll take “selfish” over that any day.
As I was writing this, I realized this is just a summary of most of the opinions above, I think.
Even altruism is selfish. Also, Mother Teresa was greedy.
Ask yourself why you asked this question.
Everyone on this thread, ask yourself why you’ve answered the question.
Ask yourself why everyone else answered the question, including me.
“characterized by or manifesting concern or care only for oneself.”
There is a saying, “you are the most important person in the world.”
It does not mean you do not care for others.
But you have to take care of yourself before you can take care of others. To do it right, be the best you can be, you better be selfish.
Everything you do and everything you feel is all about you. I our current society try’s not to be openly vain or come off that way. (yea right)
That is not it.
You might be very empathetic to others. But you derive something from it.
Does it make you happy to help others?
Do you feel it is important to defend your country?
Even pulling a kitty out of a tree provides you with satisfaction.
You might not want to pull that stupid cat out of the tree again. But you do it. Pleasing that special someone. You being the hero again, though you might be modest about it.
Really, nothing is bad. Until someone disagrees with you and that is really their problem. Get enough to disagree and all of a sudden selfish is a bad word.
@lynneblundell – Yes, it’s a hot issue. Personally, I believe in the veto power capability. Otherwise eventually our whole model of jurisdiction would have to be changed. A murderer does nothing wrong from a neurobiological perspective. We still have to lock him up to protect the rest of society. But we wouldn’t call it punishment anymore.
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