Sunday, February 19, 2012

Altruism Part 1


Is it technically possible to do good acts without feeling good about them? Or will every good act consequently and inevitably make you on some level feel some good? I keep hearing about altruism "for its own sake", and how that means that you aren't supposed to do it for yourself. But can you help if you get something good out of it? If feeling good is just naturally what happens after you commit an act of altruism, and you know that you are going to feel good before you do that act, does that no longer mean that the act is altruistic? I don't think so. You may do something good for somebody knowing that it will inevitably make you feel good, but that doesn't mean that you are selfish or simply not altruistic. It seems to me that the act in and of itself is either altruistic or not, I don't think intention plays a very prominent role. Even if you do something primarily for your own sake, if that something helps another person, then I   just don't think it can be called selfish. Or, at the very least, not entirely selfish. Even if you don't mean to help anyone, you may not be able to call yourself an altruist, but one can still say that you did an altruistic act. 

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