Robert Scott Gassler wrote: > What's the correct alternative? I don't know about "correct," but one alternative to the Comtean and orthodox-economics concept of "altruism" is that instead of each of seeing each benefit we provide to others as being a personal sacrifice (but being willing to make that sacrifice)[*] as in the "altruism" theory, to some extent each of us sees that we get direct benefits from helping others: instead of seeing the act of helping the old lady cross the street as a subtraction from the time and effort I could be using to make myself happy (accumulating wealth, buying goodies, etc.), helping her actually makes me happy, including not only the sense of "having done right" but also the benefits of social connectedness with her.[**] (This all assumes, of course, that she really wants to cross the street.)
In addition, though each of us gets gratification from helping others to one extent or another (since we are social animals), the extent to which we realize the fact that we can benefit from helping others and then act on that understanding depends on the education and social conditioning we've received in our lifetimes. [*] in a lot of these altruism theories, the sacrifice now is supposed to pay off in the future, in terms of future benefits, so that it's an investment. If I'm nice to the people as I climb the corporate ladder, the underlings will be nice to me as I fall. Or I can make sure that my "selfish genes" are perpetrated down the generations. [**] Of course, there's always the chance that she could write me into her will! -- Jim Devine / "Nobody told me there'd be days like these / Strange days indeed -- most peculiar, mama." -- JL. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
