Absolutely Unselfish Acts

[Supersour]

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

[Omega]

Then yes.

[RantingSidekick]

NOTE- Evolutionary, if humans (or any animal) weren't self-important, we wouldn't still be alive.

ALSO- So an act is only selfless if we don't feel satisfaction from it? We have to grudgingly perform a service for it to count as unselfish?

Selfish is thinking of yourself above everyone else, not considering anyone else. A person can perform community service and feel good that they helped people, because they are putting the others before themselves.

Consider the following scenarios:
1. I give up my lunchmoney for someone else and am then grumpy for the rest of the day from not having food.
2. I offer my lunchmoney to someone else because I think they need it more than I do.
By your definitions, only No.1 counts as "un-selfish".

If no satisfaction was derived from helping others...the world would seriously suck. Think about how many people have directly or indirectly put you before themselves. The list is pretty long.


*hates this thread*

[Supersour]

That's why I asked for someone to define 'selfish' earlier. You don't have to go by my definition. And by your way, then, yeah, that isn't selfish. But the people who argue this for a living accept my definiton as the basis.

You hate this thread?

[RantingSidekick]

It just...annoys me.

But maybe that's because I volunteer a lot.

The cynicism in this thread hits a nerve, like you think I'm doing it for myself. >.>
...And you can't just say, "Oh I don't think /you're/ being selfish," because what's the difference between me and the next person?

[SilverMoonArcher]

Agreed. But not for myself. I don't volunteer unless I need school credit.

It's just that not everything has to be black and white. Having a mix of logic and feeling is good; a life lived simply by logic or only by feeling is not a happy life, from what I've seen of the world.

[Megan (Fishy)]

I volunteer for school credit and otherwise, so I guess that makes me... mostly selfish? I dunno.

I used to volunteer just because. Now I'm in high school, and need credits, so I'm like "hey maybe I'll bring this slip of paper along too"? I don't see anything wrong with that...

[Supersour]

It doesn't help at all that I think everyone is selfish?

I'm only saying that you recieve a benefit from your actions.

[o0_flying high_0o]

I don't think the fact you feel good about helping someone automatically means you're selfish for helping them.

I mean, is your sole motive in helping them to make yourself feel good, or is it primarily to make someone else feel good?

For example, volunteering. You give your time because you honestly believe that this will benefit some one else. You don't sit back and think 'What will make me feel good', if that's all you're after, you can much more easily buy a block of chocolate.

In devoting time and effort to something that will help others, rather than spending it on you, you are placing their needs above your own, which is really the very definition of unselfish. That we are able to understand that are actions are worthwhile, and hence derive some pleasure from the fact we've undertaken them should not diminish the original actions or the original underlying motives.

*has no idea whether that will make any sense*

[RantingSidekick]

Exactly. Satisfaction isn't the goal, it's a by-product.

[SilverMoonArcher]

Absolutely. I think everyone has something that they care about above all other things; it could be oneself, it could be another person, or it could be an idea.

I think this is ridiculous. Maybe because I believe in love and I love some people. If you have felt love of any kind, think of that. Are those relationships selfish? Are the feelings selfish? When I think of the people I love getting hurt, am I being selfish for wanting to prevent them getting hurt? I'm sorry, but by this logic, love (what I define as love) doesn't exist, and life would be very unhappy if no one loved one another. (And I don't just mean romantic or physical love. >.>)

So her's something I know about: Very few of us are here on this website because of MR now. In fact, some of us have admitted that leaving this website was or would be good for us (besides the fact that a lot of us greatly dislike MR). So are we here because we love (like, admire, enjoy each others' presences, whatever) one another or because of an addiction to this website? Hell, none of us would be here, sometimes wrecking aspects of our lives, if we didn't like each other or another person enough to stay here.

[SilverMoonArcher]

Okay, so I got carried away...But still. We are mostly here for each other, from what I've read.

[Megan (Fishy)]

Slightly carried away, yes, but I agree with everything you said anyways. Completely and utterly.

And yes. I know I'm only here for people, and I know that, at least the people I talk to often, are also only here for each other.