Lifestyle > Train of Thought
Can one be totally unselfish?
Elevz:
--- Quote from: King Sikotic on January 24, 2008, 08:57:56 PM ---No such thing. Being selfish is part of being human.
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Isn't it weird how unselfishness is seen as a virtue?
7even:
^Is exploitation a virtue to you?
7even:
--- Quote from: Maestro Minded / LME on January 24, 2008, 06:11:03 PM ---
--- Quote from: 7even on January 24, 2008, 05:56:00 PM ---
--- Quote from: Maestro Minded / LME on January 24, 2008, 05:18:15 PM ---
--- Quote from: 7even on January 24, 2008, 05:11:29 PM ---I think my dad is a completely unselfish person. It depends how you look at it, though. I mean, to some people it can be extremely fulfilling to help people without getting anything in return. True goodness implies reward in itself. So you could argue that even those selfless acts are selfish to a certain degree. I guess you are aware of that conception, otherwise I can't understand how you come to the conclusion that nobody is able to perform a non egocentric deed. I have performed those kind of deeds on several occasions. So if you truly never met a person like that in your entire life, "hello".
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if your dad would have to choose between saving your life or the life of a unknown guy, what would he do? i'll take it a step further, if your dad would have to choose betwee saving the life of his mother, lets say she's 60 years old, or saving the life or saving the life of a 15 years old girl in china, what would he do?
and im just dipping my finger in the water here as you probably already know...
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Umm... sorry, but it is pretty normal to choose the life of a kin over the life of some random chink. Doesn't make anybody egocentric.
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uhm yea it does because you value the life of somebody in your family, that has lived for lets say 60 years, higher than the life of somebody that has his/her entire life ahead. how can that not be selfish?
notice though that i'm not saying that it's un-normal to think like that.
--- End quote ---
I wouldn't expatiate the term "selfish" like this.
Elevz:
--- Quote from: 7even on January 25, 2008, 04:11:18 AM ---^Is exploitation a virtue to you?
--- End quote ---
"The act of employing to the greatest possible advantage"
Yes.
Strictly speaking, the greatest possible advantage wouldn't be the greatest possible advantage if it had some nasty con to it. Thing is, people do not look at it from all directions, so ultimately there's a whole gang of corporate heads who make money just for the sake of making money. Instead of achieving it as a well considered value, they choose not to consider the effects of their actions. Yes, you can exploit children in Africa and Asia all you want (it's happening after all), but it does have a down side when it comes to your own sense of being a human being. If you think that lowly of man and his potentials and rights, that does say something about the depraved state of your own morality. You'll need some serious psychological defense mechanisms to block that off. And defense mechanisms are a distortion of the perception of reality, meaning it will come back at you in the shape of mental unstableness.
Selfishness requires rationality and reasonability to be good. You can't fool yourself whilst trying to be selfish, because it'll turn against you.
With that being said, I believe it is impossible for man to ever achieve the level of rationality it takes for selfish actions to become harmless. Just having a well trained morality should definately make a difference however. I am selfish, but that doesn't make me a self-centered asshole. I value things around me that I find worth valuing.
If you ask me, exploitation is simply to make the best possible out of something. It is always good to strive for the best, is it not?
7even:
If I were a person that had an untameable urge to torture random people to death, I'd kill myself. It is not always good to strive for what's best for you as an individual, one has to put things in relation to each other, if your advantage far outweighs the harm done to the rest of them niggas, then yes, strive for it. If the opposite is the case, don't. Call me a Kantist, but I wouldn't act in a way that I'd hate another nigga for.
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