AE <hidden@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:dclkl2$8is$01$1@news.t-online.com...
ta wrote:
AE wrote:
ta wrote:
...
In my mind, "selfishness" is placing one's needs/wants/desires above
everyone else's without regard to the consequences for everyone else.
To act in "self-interest" is simply to act in a way that makes one feel
good. We all act in our own self-interest at all times (sometimes the
behaviour is selfish, sometimes it's not). If it feels good, we do it.
But
different things feel good to different people.
For example, the corporate executive who decides to put his financial
interests ahead of human health impacts by not recalling vehicles with
exploding gas tanks is selfish (and also acting out of self-interest).
...
Next step would be to see when a selfish action is against one's
self-interest, and when it isn't.
I would say that acting selfishly is ultimately never in one's own
self-interest (though the confusion lies in the *perception* that an
action is actually in one's own self-interest).
I beg to differ. If consequences for me and my group are not negative, I
don't see why a selfish action should be against my self-interest.
Because acts of selfishness ultimately hamper one's growth as a human being.
Using the example above, the corporate exec *thinks* his cost/benefit
analysis will yield what is in his best interest, and that may be
true from a strictly monetary standpoint, but he is viewing his
actions from a very limited point of view, imo.
This corporate exec might hurt his own goals if (a) he or his company
gets charged for not recalling this vehicles, (b) if he or a person that
is important for him gets hurt by one of these non-recalled vehicles or
(c) if he feels guilty for his action.
(a) can be exculded, for example if it is impossible to prove his or his
company's knowledge of the danger or if legal situation doesn't allow to
make him or his company responsible for possible dangers.
(b) might be very unlikely if the actual danger of an exploding gas tank
is fairly low (which ew would expect, or the problem would already have
occured during prototype-testing).
(c) The feel of guilt is anyway subjective and will most likely not
occur if he doesn't actually hear about people being killed by an
exploding gas tank.
Whether it hurts his "goals" or not is not what I'm referring to. He may
attain his narrow financial goals, but at what cost? It does not benefit one
to act selfishly, other than in very trivial, temporary ways (imo of
course).
.
