Absolutely Unselfish Acts

[Supersour]

Who here believes that a human can commit an absolutely unselfish act?

[nathan_p]

I'm here because the Internet is my crack :V

I... actually might wind up leaving sometime. Possibly soon, but maybe not. College, y'know?

Nothing is certain, though. It never is.

[Supersour]

Look up social subjectivism.

Have you read Wuthering Heights? The narrator, roughly, said: 'I would rather have my father die before me to spare him the pain and leave me to suffer.' You cannot escape being selfish. Either you don't want them hurt because it hurts you, or you cannot bear for yourself to be hurt because then your loved ones will suffer emotionally. Please don't get in philosophy, I never cared to learn about it.

[o0_flying high_0o]

*disagrees*

Your motive is to protect the other person and reduce their suffering, not to minimise your own. You're own suffering is not reduced because they won't have to suffer, it makes your loss no less poignant, but you are willing to go through that for them.

Why should the simple fact that you aren't a horrible person and don't particularly want to see them suffer mean all of that has to be disregarded and your act must be deemed selfish?

[Supersour]

Because you recieve benefit from it. Therefore, it isn't a selfless act.

The whole point is to identify an unselfish act. Even the slightest personal gain will keep it from being absolutely unselfish.

[o0_flying high_0o]

As I've already mentioned, I think selfishness is determined more by the motives behind your actions, rather than the end result.

You don't act in order to receive the benefit, therefore when you decide to take action your motives are unselfish. Therefore the action itself acted out unselfishly.

If you were to act in order to make yourself feel better, rather than to spare someone else pain, then that'd be different, however so long as that remains as an incidental by-product I can't see why that wouldn't be unselfish.

[Supersour]

>.> We can't argue about this. You say the mindset of the person matters, and I say it doesn't.

[o0_flying high_0o]

How can your mindset be irrelevant when determining whether or no you're acting selfishly?

I'd say the mindset not only matters, but that it's the /only/ thing that matters...

[Supersour]

It doesn't matter how you're acting. It's the act itself.

[Megan (Fishy)]

You just lost me. What do you mean?

Whether or not it 'benefits' you would be an emotional/mental thing. So.... mindset is everything. Unless I misunderstood this entire thread.

[Supersour]

You... lost me.

A benefit is a black or white thing. Emotions are just chemical responses. Money is a tangible item. Either you recieve these things or you don't.

[Megan (Fishy)]

But.... then, doing something that has no tangible benefit to you would be unselfish, then?

[Supersour]

Still selfish.

But btw, emotions = chemicals = atoms and stuff.

Your brain releases them as a response. There's your tangible thing.