There are all kinds of reasons people may provide assistance to other people. Sometimes it is just because they empathize and wish to help. For those who have empathy for others, they understand what I just said, but I am not saying categorically everyone had empathy nor am I saying that people assist only or even primarily for empathy. But I know that sometimes people help others simply because they care. — Rich
Doing something for the benefit of others is the definition of selflessness, regardless of whether you happen to benefit yourself. Otherwise, you must define selflessness as those accidentally helpful acts. — Hanover
Doing something for the benefit of others is the definition of selflessness, regardless of whether you happen to benefit yourself. Otherwise, you must define selflessness as those accidentally helpful acts.
Definitions derive not from word analysis, but from usage. — Hanover
But my question has to do with whether or not there are actual examples of people doing something solely for the benefit of others and not their own interest. In other words, are all actions done out of concern for oneself? — Alec
In all of these situations, it can be argued that there is an ulterior motive behind these actions and that they were thus never really selfless to begin with. — Alec
Sure, but they're not what we would consider selfless. If I trip over a wire and save you from electrocution, I did something for you and nothing for me.
Come on. Are all conscious decisions that we make done out of concern for oneself?
Come on. Are all conscious decisions that we make done out of concern for oneself? — Alec
I can understand where you're coming from, but it seems like if we ask a soldier why he saved his comrades, he wouldn't disagree that he did so because he couldn't live with himself if he didn't. In other words, the guilt that he would face if he let his friends die is something that makes dying in their place more preferable. And it could be argued that this sort of thinking applies to every person who wishes to help others. The idea that they provided assistance to avoid guilt sounds just as appropriate as saying that they did so because they wished to help. — Alec
You're creating a tautology here. If I do what I want to, then I'm selfishly doing what I want, even if what I want is to save your life from a burning house. If I didn't want to save you, I wouldn't have. — Hanover
Doing what you want to do is compatible with the latter, but my question is if there are any true cases of such behaviour. — Alec
Or here's another way of putting it: You're saying that I want to do x because it would satisfy my wanting to do x. That sounds circular. — Alec
I would like to consider the possibility that every human action is the byproduct of selfish motives. — Alec
What do you guys think of this? I look forward to hearing your thoughts. — Alec
I think this was the premise behind the Selfish Gene book by Richard Dawkins. I believe his contention was that altruistic actions serve to promote the survival of the species and are therefore ultimately selfish, with self defined at that population. — MikeL
You distinguished between two sentences:
#1: I simply want to save someone from a burning house vs.
#2: I want to save someone from a burning house in order to protect myself from the guilt of not doing so.
The problem is that #1 is an incomplete sentence. There is some reason you want to save someone because, tautologically, every intentional act has a corresponding intent. In order to find an act without an underlying intent, you must look for accidental or random events, not the sort we're at all interested in here.
So, to your question, when does #1 occur, asking very specifically as you have when do you intentionally save someone from a burning house for no reason, I'd say never, but that's based upon a logical problem in trying to explain how one can act intentionally for no reason. That just doesn't make sense. If you acted intentionally, you had a reason, and that reason formed the basis of your intent. — Hanover
I disagree that intentional acts must always have underlying reasons to them. If I were to have the sudden urge to jump on one foot and someone asks me why I did it, I would say "I don't know, I just wanted to do so". It's an intentional act clearly, but it was made on impulse. — Alec
My understanding of the word "intent" is that it refers to an action with a goal, while your jumping on one foot apparently doesn't have one. Isn't there a difference between "voluntary" and "intentional?" — T Clark
Sure there is. The jumping on one foot is it's own goal, because you wanted to jump on one foot. — Alec
I disagree that intentional acts must always have underlying reasons to them. If I were to have the sudden urge to jump on one foot and someone asks me why I did it, I would say "I don't know, I just wanted to do so". It's an intentional act clearly, but it was made on impulse. — Alec
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