Selfishly Altruistic
It has become a norm in our culture to perceive selfishness as something negative. The very idea of ‘negative’ selfishness is often used as a counter argument against ‘positive’ altruism. But what is ‘altruism’ anyways and why being selfish has got such a bad reputation? Why the terms even exist?
One helps a helpless fellow in the street with self interest being at the center of that very action. The act of helping someone rewards the individual within the community, earning them social capital. It also feels good to help someone else. Nature has designed us to be selfishly altruistic because it benefits group survival. We learn how to act as such, because we are by default social animals, interdependent on each other.
Most people use the word ‘selfishness’ in order emphasize their own altruism. Talk about being selfish…
This form of Selfish Altruism is positively correlated with how we perceive value. If we like our family and friends we are more likely to assist them in order to thereafter maximise the quality of our own livelihood—whether it be financial, social or emotional. If someone we don’t know is drowning helplessly in the middle of the sea we will help if we are good enough swimmers. We calculate the risks and take action. This is not altruism but rather an informed decision based on risk and reward. If the fellow survives then we are rewarded both socially and emotionally.
A hero who just saved ‘selflessly’ someone is no different than a businessman who took risk, employed thousands and improved lives. The only thing being different between the two is the narrative for each story.
image credit
I Would Die For Me
We rarely put ourselves in danger just to sacrifice for others. This can only happen in situations of war where the larger group, our larger group, is endangered. We use a socio-cultural narrative to excuse an action. Suicide bombers use this narrative. Soldiers do much the same. We sacrifice ourselves for our own group’s survival.
All other mammals act similarly. Try to attack a feral cat with no kittens and she will run away. Try to attack one that just had newborns and you are up for a not-so-pleasant surprise. The cat will defend the kittens because it ensures her own genetic fitness by ensuring that her own offspring continues. The cats acts selfishly altruistic.
There are thousands of children dying everyday from hunger and other diseases but we all choose to raise our own kids because it ensures our own genetic fitness. Every single act we do is based on selfish altruism. This is why it is obsolete to distinguish between selfishness and altruism. If a phenomenon is prevalent by default, it becomes obsolete to bring it up.
image credit
According to Me, Me, Me
The idea of selfishness just prevails due to sheer envy. Someone else has more things than we do, thus we like to bitch about how that person doesn't share. Someone else displays different egotistic values than ours, thus we like to compare what we would do in their position. The relative comparison generates the misconception of selfishness we so commonly use every now and then. We forget that each and everyone of us is different, and that our comparison is only depended in relative time and context.
For example, we often hear how capitalism is “selfish” and socialism is more “altruistic”, forgetting than in both cases the group, the nation, the country, is benefited. It has nothing to do with either socialism or capitalism but about being selfishly altruistic about ones own people within a system—that ultimately reflects back to them.
Cooperation is what binds the idea of selfish altruism. If one helps others, one indirectly helps oneself. Successful businessmen know this very well. We are kind but also want to make profit, thus we create value that everybody can share and benefit from.
image credit
Facing Reality
The altruism hypothesis can work only as an ethical, abstract glue between people who have to live in already established societies out of sheer necessity, not of choice. We're social animals, and our evolution has shaped us so that our social learning mechanisms maximise our survival.
By being good to someone else it ensures not only their survival but also our very own. Thus, the concepts of selfishness and altruism become one; Selfish Altruism or Altruistically Selfish —when we examine both concepts from an objective perspective.
There is no need to delve into higher philosophical enquiries. Both altruism and selfishness are societal myths, or better, memes. We are all selfishly altruistic and always have been. Even the smallest random act of kindness has a hidden egoistic motive. We just like to camouflage the idea beneath an altruistic facade.
Hello kyriacos, we would like to inform you that you have been chosen as a featured author by the @robinhoodwhale initiave. We are currently in alpha testing, if you would like more info join robinhood chat on steemit.chat or pm @repholder.
Controversial but great post - Keep on Steeming!
The Robin Hood Whale initiave has opened a new channel robinhood-links
ONLY post other people's work (Please check if the author has already been featured in the pinned spreedsheet) - These are posts to be considered by curators of the Robin Hood Whale initiative.
Great, much appreciated @robinhoodwhale
Did Robin Hood really live in Whales? ;)
(sorry, could not resist a cheap pun ... )
sorry had to post this @advinio
That whale looks suspiciously like a dog.
Or maybe it is one of those furwhales? :D
No lol but he probably didn't live anywhere near Nottingham either. It is believed the location of his adventures was more likely in the North of England around Yorkshire.
The name might even have evolved as a convenient summary for the actions of a whole bunch of people.
Also, maybe the idea even was to "create" Robin Hood in order to send the authorities at the time on a wild goose chase for a non-existent person.
Robin of Loxley ? Loxley is a village and a suburb of the city of Sheffield, England. So yeah perhaps !, lol Loxley is a little north of Nottingham ...
just sayin, lol
It's more than a little North IMO but it depends on your own definition since England is pretty small in size geographically.
@robinhoodwhale Great choice guys he deserves it. I don't always agree with him but that is kind of the point. His articles aim to provoke a discussion and he knows the subjects very well - perhaps too well lol! Anyway I'll shut up now I don't want to give him a big head:)
Have you ever read Ayn Rand's The Virtue of Selfishness? Good stuff.
@randyclemens
I have read everything Ayn Rand has composed :)
Also Rand's work was the basis for one of my favourite games - Bioshock - "No Gods or Kings only Man".
@thecryptofiend
probably the only game that i tried to play. it was also reccomended to me from an Ayn Rand fan
Nice post very interesting indeed. How do you define a person that helps another with no motive or hidden agendas but purely on instinct? ..is that still classed as being "Selfishly Altruistic"..trying to understand a bit more,lol.......i guess if you dive deeper our instinct can be triggered by....hmm...
What your calling "Instinct" in this scenario I believe is much akin to saying "fight or flight " as a Non decision concept? This is actually using "Failed logic" because Fight or flight is a predetermined decision by you as the way you WILL react in the future. Therefore there is ALWAYS a motive or agenda as you put it, because you CAN'T even take a step without a decision to do so ... Again , you make a decision as a SELFISH endeavor, because it makes YOU feel good!
"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice" Freewill By RUSH
ofcourse @cryptoiskey everything is selfish altruism
whatver we do we do it first for ourselves. we learn this behaviour because it serves us best
Propagation of species is not a learned behavior, it is innate ...
@jtstreetman
fall back enough in time and you will find out that there is no such thing as nurture vs nature. One feeds the other. The innate, eventually has to come out of somwhere and it does come out of the sociality we are all carry.
it is not learned it IS innate, we are selfish by nature, if we were NOT, there would be NO humans ... you can keep writing forever, but you cannot change this fact. quit trying to win an argument, it is not open to debate, facts are facts.
Great article.
Altruism evolved just like many other traits because it has a survival benefit. This benefit can be either to the group and species or to the individual.
This is definitely an interesting way to look at it and something I think many people won't look at because it is in many ways an uncomfortable truth.
It is much better to assume (on a conscious level) that we are all saintly characters acting for a greater good.
In some ways we have to tell ourselves these sorts of things to avoid potential dissonance.
Reminds me of a quote I heard someone say (may even have been in a movie) - "We are all the hero in our own story."
Yes that is definitely part of it but we can also forget about those other children more easily because they are not in our direct social group.
Probably very true. I say probably because I'm still trying to hang on to the belief that there is some greater good lol!
Another great post. I hope it gets the attention it deserves because it is a fascinating topic for discussion.
Thank you for your input once again @theycryptofiend. The main reason I post these is to attract different ideas.
Thing is by being selfish we are actively be altruistic.
Good post bro +1
Altruism IS selfishness ...PERIOD
People confuse this because people want to say "Look at me I'm Altruistic, I help people, I'm a GOOD person". That's BS, people help other people because it makes THEM feel good (Selfishness). ie:
It would make ME feel good if I could help, and if it fails, I can FEEL GOOD because at least I tried.
Why are their "catbirds"? Drone bees ? It is NOT Altruistic behavior, it is Selfishness . This behavior is prey distraction (even sacrificial) to help continue the "bloodline" or genes . Also known as the "Selfish Gene".
So yeah, lol, guess I agree with your premise. I just don't like the the term "selfishly altruistic" use ONE word or the other, lol !!! Basically your premise, I know, lol, but I'M HAVIN FUN !
While we're on the subject of delusional phrases, and basic "Failed Logic" in general, lol ... Something I'm working on , which is basically what you're doing here ...
I abhor this Orwellian Newspeak that has become rampant these days. I am trying to convince people to be more truthful in their language or speech. I can't stand these passive, weak ass statements that are so dogmatic it makes me sick. ie: Oh That's just wrong ... Yep, that's such a shame ... oh that's just so sad ... yeah, that's just too bad ... yeah I really hate to hear that ...
When (IMHO), they should be saying "That's not just wrong ! THAT'S FUCKING EVIL !!!!
STAND UP DAMMIT AND BE A MAN ABOUT IT !!! All this EVIL CRAP going on in the world is just pure unadulterated EVIL ! And we need to start getting AGGRESSIVE about it and calling these EVIL people out and calling them EVIL, and QUIT condoning this EVIL shit by SAYING ! Oh That's just wrong ... Yep, that's such a shame ... oh that's just so sad ... yeah, that's just too bad ... yeah I really hate to hear that ...
If YOU condone a behavior, YOU ARE promoting that behavior !, STOP it ! YOU EVIL Bastages !
just sayin ....
"Yeah, well, that's just, like, MY opinion, man"
The issue is not to give negative connotations to something that we are part
part of ? sorry, didn't quite understand that ...
part of selfish altruism. no need to either mark it as positive or negative
Wonderful post, kyriacos. It captures what I've always thought about human nature. I loved the last three sentences:
This reminded me of Leonard Read's 1958 essay "I, Pencil" and Adam Smith's concept of the "invisible hand".
It's all fascinating, thought-provoking stuff. Keep on posting!
I read the "invinsible hand" a while back @fenglosophy . Thank you reminding it to me. There is also a great animated video about I, Pencil. If you haven't seen it yet better check it out
great topic. like that
I agree with what you are saying overall. But not with the title implication that selfishness, as a term to describe certain behavior, is merely a "myth". I would suggest some more precision of terms for clarity. This is a semantic argument.
The imagined polarized 100% absolute unreality of pure selfishness is indeed a myth, yes, an illusion, a fiction, etc. That cannot exist, just as someone cannot be 100% pure absolute evil. These things cannot be. The term selfishness does not refer to this imagined unreal extreme for most people, clearly that is not possible once we contemplate it. It is used to describe a certain propensity to disregard concern for others in conjunction with out own concern.
Thus, selfishness is not a mere "myth" in itself, it is one quality in a dualistic conceptual framework, where the imagined unreal absolute of "selfishness" is on one side of a "myth" of imagination, and the 100% absolute pure unreality on the other side is the "myth" of altruism. The reality exists in the middle.
This is the case I see you making, and I agree with it. But the terminology can be semantically confusing. This is my point.
There is a development from the formation of our ego-personality-identity construct, self-view, image of self, sense of self, shifting from a more self-concerned, self-focused, self-centered and self-considered (i.e. more selfish and less other-inclusive vs. less selfish and other-inclusive) perspective on one side of the spectrum/polarity, to progressively include the external world, and others, into our worlview and how we behave. It is a move from self without much concern for others, towards a cooperative, social, reciprocal causal-effect understanding of self & others together.
Good post and I don't disagree with the overall message. Thanks.
Take care. Peace.
perhaps the word you are searching is egotism @krnel
This is why I use "selfishsly atruistic" or "altruistically selfish" as a term.
Society has hijacked a very basic premise of nature. This is why it is so confusing to us
Do you say that because I used the word ego, and what I was saying somehow no longer applies to selfishness because you think it refers to egotism and not selfishness? I was describing what you are saying in other terminology to more clearly define how selfishness is not truly a myth. An ego-"I", self, is required for self-ish behavior that disregards others and their concerns. It seems you are not understanding, and think that egotism is not compatible with selfishness, when they have synonymous definitions and can be used interchangeably. Using one does not remove the other from applicability, because they are essentially the same.
e•go•tism
http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/egotism
http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/selfish
Just because it has been used as such in the language @krnel it doesn't mean it is so. This is why I wrote the article. You are using societal conformity as an argument.
You might also need to search better into the words themselves. Your reference is oversimplified.
It seems you want to keep separating the two and not understand. If "ego is a person’s sense of identity" and "selfishness means to act in your own interest", then understanding how one develops from the other is important. The sense of self, self-construct, self-image, self-view is directly tied to how we view ourselves in reference to reality, which is a worldview, perception of reality, in which others exist and are part of our social cooperative way of living. They are both linked, and you are trying to keep them separate as to deny the validity of what I am saying.
Ego = I = self. Simple, yes. It is the sense of self, everything I have suggested. And it relates to being self-ish. From self, to selfish, requires ego-I. Ego is inextricably linked to the concept of being selfish. You tried to invalidate the connection. Synonyms are valid, they are metaphorical (as X as Y, X like Y) correspondences. Maybe you need to go look at your etymological understanding instead of projecting that deficiency onto me. Peace.
I want to apologise to all because I tried to edit a typo and the whole article got messed up. I guess the editor is in beta mode and it still gives me some trouble.
Its all good, wish i were half as articulate as you. Conversationally I'm fine, writing is a whole different deal, just NOT a writer ! why i comment, not blog ... you are an awesome writer however !
Thank you. Much appreciated @jtstreetman
So I'm not the only one.
Maybe I should stick it out and see if the editor stops being a dickweed.
@kyriacos excellent post yet again and congrats on the @robinhoodwhale feature! Well deserved!
Thank you @jacor
You have been really helpful as well
You were able to explain something I always thought.
Got to take some time to read it fully, too tired now :)
Upped and followed, great job!
thank you @andrew0
I will try to expand more on these subjects in the future. if you have any questions or topics that you would like me to feauture, shoot
It was a perfect propaganda work in the last 50 years, you are independent of comunity and you can get your goals alone, lot of people believe it, and it is a perfect way for control, but remember without community all of us would be died
@bhokor
everybody needs everybody. cooperation always existed and is vital to doing anything.
"The essential notion in the concept of altruism is that there is no benefit to you, making the concept fundamentally flawed in terms of actual reality. To benefit others, is to benefit you. To benefit you, is to benefit others. Only by means of disconnection from the reality of how you are connected and related to others is it possible to maintain the delusion that it is possible to benefit only someone else, without it having an impact on you. An iconic and ironic example of this is how you feel when you help someone out: it feels GREAT."
"The term that I use instead of selfishness, that is much more accurate, is self-absorbed. The value of this change is the enabling of seeing how to end the "selfishness", and that is by enlarging the circle of consideration the person is having, and you do that via listening to them. It is the same method for interacting with those who are suicidal. Suicidality and self-absorption occur when a person's space and mind is in a continuous implosionary mode. The implosion is occurring due to either a rejection of one's self, for which they need space whereby to express that and interact with it, or imposition from others close to them, whether family or friends, which has the same requirement."
@somethingsea
You are describing the normative application of the words which, like i explained, do not exist.
as for the suicide part, that is highly subjective. it looks like quote mining from a book.
I quote-mined it from myself, as I've thought and written extensively on it.
I'm defending your mocking of the terms,
because I'm pissed off with how people use them too.
"Selfish", in the common colloquial, is like "capitalism", in that it has two opposite meanings that, when thought is put to them, results in the explosion of the common conception, with the end result being that the term has no meaning, by the common conception, and it only makes sense to say "selfish" in terms of whether they are acting in a self-absorbed fashion, or a self-aware and expanded fashion.
Those are the only two directions of the meaning of selfish -
implosionary and violent, or expansive and loving.
This post has been linked to from another place on Steem.
Real-Time Update of RobinHood Whale Project 罗宾鲸火贴实时更新 01-09 by @laonie
Belief In Belief And What Makes Us Human (Featuring @kyriacos as author) by @jacor
Learn more about linkback bot