Are Humans Inherently Selfish?

[Ameatypie]

So this year, im an IB (international baccularruate) student and a TOK (theory of knowledge, epistemology). A question, or rather statement that particularly interests me is: Are humans inherently selfish? Is everything we do, in one way or another, to benifit ourselves?

Several examples.

1) You tell your wife and kids you love them. Why? To make them feel better. the thing is, why do you want them to feel better, to feel loved, to feel good about themselves? Because if they feel better, loved and good about themselves, then they will make you feel better, loved, good about yourself in return. You get that warm fuzzy feeling, not only from making them feel better but for them making you feel better. Selfish?

2) A man is in a war trench, surrounded by his friends and comrades, and someone throws a grenade into the trench. He dives on it, it explodes, he sacrifices himself to save his comrades. Why? because he can't live without his friends perhaps. Or, because he could not live with himself if his friends died and he survived. Or, he feels a need to repay a past deed.... there are many reasons, but all of them, every single one.... selfish?

I am still exploring this concept for myself, and I am having difficultly deciding if the answer is yes, no or something in between or nothing at all. Can there be unselfish people? Is it accurate to categorize humans in this way and make the biggest generalization ever seen by saying that humans ARE inherently selfish?

Call me a saddist, call me a defeatist, but these are just my ramblings. What are YOUR thoughts on this? can you answer the question, is there in answer to the question, whgat is the meaning of life....... gah. Well, anyway - over to you. The ball is in your court - ramble away!

 

[Gauntes]

lots of bold points here
HA Ha Ha
...
sorry


I think it's a basic survival instinct to be as selfish as possible; to horde all the goods for yourself so that your body doesn't have to work as hard

though one can think that you're looking too deep into this matter
like making 4 point argument about why jumping on top of a grenade would be a selfish act.

 

[the_bearpelt]

Haha, oh man, a fellow IB student? How's that going for you?
You a junior or a senior? Watch out for senior year, it's a *****.

Huh. Well, if you were to go with the textbook-definition of selfish, in this context, then sure, we're selfish.
But if you think more about selfish in the more vague definition, the one that're more social, I would say, no, we're not. Not always, anyways. I feel some people are actually quite selfish and can't stop themselves, or choose not to. But I feel that there are plenty of people who aren't inherently selfish. And on top of that, are we selfish ALL THE TIME? Or does it only crop up sometimes?

Have fun with your IB stuff.

 

[Henrik Persson]

All creatures are inherently selfish. If they weren't, evolution wouldn't work. Selfishness is what holds the universe together.

I do believe that people on occasion act without selfishness, but it's extremely rare. I also believe that it doesn't matter if they do or not. What makes a person "good" is if he likes doing "good" things. Just because a person loves doing nice things it doesn't make his deeds any less admirable.

 

[ethaninja]

Hehe wow that brings a whole new perspective on things.

 

[Brotherofwill]

I also took the IB and had TOK classes. I hated that lecture becausse I don't think humans are but whatever you say people are just going to be like:"Well you did it for yourself". No I fucking didn't.

If I want to do someone a favour, I want to do them a favour not myself. Every action gives some kind of self satisfaction (yo yo!) but that doesn't mean the self satisfaction triggers the action.

Anyway, I hated the lecture on selfishness in my TOK class which is why I can still remember it. My example for an unselfish action was when my brother caught a falling supermarket product by reflex. The woman didn't thank him even though the product would have gotten smashed if he hadn't caught it. He didn't trigger that help, he just did it as a reflex.

 

[Estocavio]

Humans do everything for personal benefit in some way or another - You made this post to learn the opinions of others on the topic and therefore further your own knowledge. I responded to it because i like forums.

 

[Ameatypie]

I think it's a basic survival instinct to be as selfish as possible; to horde all the goods for yourself so that your body doesn't have to work as hard

though one can think that you're looking too deep into this matter
like making 4 point argument about why jumping on top of a grenade would be a selfish act.

yeah. I tend to take things a little far.... but still, its valid ain't it?

Haha, oh man, a fellow IB student? How's that going for you?
You a junior or a senior? Watch out for senior year, it's a *****.

Huh. Well, if you were to go with the textbook-definition of selfish, in this context, then sure, we're selfish.
But if you think more about selfish in the more vague definition, the one that're more social, I would say, no, we're not. Not always, anyways. I feel some people are actually quite selfish and can't stop themselves, or choose not to. But I feel that there are plenty of people who aren't inherently selfish. And on top of that, are we selfish ALL THE TIME? Or does it only crop up sometimes?

Have fun with your IB stuff.

Selfish is defined as "devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one's own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others." hmmm.... what do you mean by the

more vague

definition?
--
HAH. You said fun and IB in the same sentence..... I am in my junior year and its a ***** already lol, I look you up when I get to senior and thank you for the warning.

All creatures are inherently selfish. If they weren't, evolution wouldn't work. Selfishness is what holds the universe together.

I do believe that people on occasion act without selfishness, but it's extremely rare. I also believe that it doesn't matter if they do or not. What makes a person "good" is if he likes doing "good" things. Just because a person loves doing nice things it doesn't make his deeds any less admirable.

You just justified selfishness.... well, I guess I should not be that surprised.... But what you are saying is that the universe would not survive without selfishness to hold it together.

---
Man, maybe i do overthink these things..... One day, I am just going to get really depressed because of this and throw myself of a bridge or something. Man. man o MAN.

 

[the_bearpelt]

Yes. Everything we do is out of self interest, one way or another. I'm surprised there's a question mark at the end of the topic name. /thread

It's not her fault, it's a class requirement thing. It's part of an IB course called Theory of Knowledge and she probably has an assignment on it. (Or had one.) I had to do it too.This was actually one of my least favorite questions, but that's becaus I'd already discussed it in length.




I want to add that I think "selfish" tends to have too strong of a negative connotation for what we're trying to say. Someone said "self-interest" instead in an earlier post. I think that word fits it better.

 

[Ameatypie]

I can't speak on be-half of humans but I know I'm selfish. Not in the way where I take all the sweets for myself but 90% of the actions I do are for my own personal gain. I mean I'm pretty generous but selfish in nature. If this makes sense?

Humans do everything for personal benefit in some way or another - You made this post to learn the opinions of others on the topic and therefore further your own knowledge. I responded to it because i like forums.

Both of you are very honest to yourselves, the first poster in particular. I am going to have to do alot of thinking about this... and come to terms with this stuff.

 

[the_bearpelt]

I suppose my comment about a vague definition was a bit vague in and of itself, hm?
I think I meant the more general version of the word "sefish." The one where we really take the negative into account and see it as a bad thing.

My biggest tip for you is to get all your college stuff lined up in the summer before senior year. Trust me, you won't have time once school starts up again. And do your ACTs and SATs in the summer, as well. It'll make it a lot easier.

 

[Brotherofwill]

You a junior or a senior? Watch out for senior year, it's a *****.

HAH. You said fun and IB in the same sentence..... I am in my junior year and its a ***** already lol, I look you up when I get to senior and thank you for the warning.

Don't listen to her. Senior year in IB is much easier than the junior year. You have much more freedom to do whatever you want and the last 3 months or so are spent dicking around, doing mocks and absolutely nothing else. It's easy.

Junior year was kind of a ***** though. You have to get used to everything and all the new classes get on your nerves.

 

[Ameatypie]

Yes. Everything we do is out of self interest, one way or another. I'm surprised there's a question mark at the end of the topic name. /thread

It's not her fault, it's a class requirement thing. It's part of an IB course called Theory of Knowledge and she probably has an assignment on it. (Or had one.) I had to do it too.This was actually one of my least favorite questions, but that's becaus I'd already discussed it in length. I want to add that I think "selfish" tends to have too strong of a negative connotation for what we're trying to say. Someone said "self-interest" instead in an earlier post. I think that word fits it better.

firstly, this is no class requirement - I am actually on holiday at the moment. I am just curious as to the opinions of others.
secondly, im a man thank you very much.

 

[Scott Scherbring]

I remember learning in Sociology class that humans are inherently selfish but only so they can be better off. It makes me think if selfishness is the original sin the church preaches.

 

[the_bearpelt]

secondly, im a man thank you very much.

*facepalm*
That's what I get for staying up late, I suppose. I dunno why I did that. @_@ THat was just silly, is what it was. My bad.

 

[Ameatypie]

secondly, im a man thank you very much.

*facepalm*
That's what I get for staying up late, I suppose. I dunno why I did that. @_@ THat was just silly, is what it was. My bad.

Its okay I guess I do have a woman for an avatar, easy enough to make that mistake. although, fyi - im often a women online when I want people to give me stuff jj lol

 

[the_bearpelt]

Ohmigod, Brotherofwill, I am super-jealous of your highschool then. Because at my school, senior year is way worse than junior year. By several miles. I did not hate school until this year.
I could go on, but I'll stop now before I get on a rant.

 

[the_bearpelt]

secondly, im a man thank you very much.

*facepalm*
That's what I get for staying up late, I suppose. I dunno why I did that. @_@ THat was just silly, is what it was. My bad.

Its okay I guess I do have a woman for an avatar, easy enough to make that mistake. although, fyi - im often a women online when I want people to give me stuff jj lol

lolz
Ahh, that was probably the avatar for me, then. I dunno, wasn't paying enough attention on my part. And it's like 4 am where I am right now.
I should really be in bed but I'm having too much fun now.