Helping Others IS Selfish

Kathryn’s report of studies showing that people derive “some perceived benefit” from helping others contradicts her conclusion that “people are not 100% selfish.” I cannot conceive of any voluntary act that is not rooted in selfishness, i.e., in the desire of the individual to be better off after acting than in not acting at all, or in pursuing other ends. Kathryn’s earlier comment that “spending money on someone else made people happier than buying something for themselves” reflects this fact. I have a continuing debate with one of my colleagues over the notion of “altruism.” I have yet to have him identify such an act, be it actual or hypothetical. Richard Dawkins’ book “The Selfish Gene” may provide some insight into why a parent, for instance, might choose to die in order to save her child, an act motivated by an inner self-interest motivated desire. Our other beneficial actions vis-a-vis our neighbors may express similar purposes.

I hear statements about so-called “selfless” acts of individuals while watching televised sporting events. A sportscaster will praise a player who lets a teammate score a basket as an “unselfish” player. Nonsense! Such a player has a selfish desire to win the game, and if his teammate can more easily promote that objective than he, there is no “selflessness” in his doing so.

I suspect that when we attribute “unselfishness” to the actions of others, we may be saying nothing more than “I wouldn’t have done that, therefore, when someone else does it, it must be an act of altruism.” The Objectivists are good at this kind of reasoning. I prefer the explanation: “I don’t know why he did what he did, but with all the options available to him, he chose the one that best served ends that he valued over others.”

The notion of being “unselfish” is part of the division that generates the inner sense of “good” and “bad” that helps keep us in a state of subservience to those who insist on controlling our “bad” side in order to foster “good” ends. Such thinking is premised on the proposition that a “selfish” person is one who puts HIS “greedy” interests ahead of mine! It is in our self-interest to abandon such divisive thinking so that we can more readily go about the business of living well by cooperating with and assisting others. Such behavior makes us “feel good,” as selfish a purpose in acting as one can imagine.

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5:16 pm on March 21, 2008