The Nature Of Altruism

I have spent a fair bit of time considering the comments that people left on my LJ last week, particularly regarding the rant I had last Sunday morning. One thing that was brought up was the nature of altruism and people believing that perhaps I am too altruistic (I don't really know if that is true - I accept I always want my friendship circle to be happy and will do all I can to make them so but I wouldn't say I was an altruist by any stretch of the imagination).

Now I accept that true altruism can never exist because human nature is inherently selfish. The instinct to survive makes it so. Equally, altrusits are generally so because it assuages guilt - effectively they do good because they often feel obliged to do so because if they didn't, a guilt complex would kick in. So most good deeds are selfish acts because it makes the good guy feel good about themselves. However, it is better to be selfish in that way than it is to cause pain, suffering and destruction by not thinking about the welfare or others or how your actions impinge on others' lives.

During the last two weeks I have noticed many incidents of people not thinking about how their actions affect others. This has been particularly prevailent in the Fandom although I have noticed it elsewhere too. Whilst I don't think these actions were necessarily done intentionally, I do think that they were borne from the fact that people weren't thinking about how what they say and do can affect others.

Perhaps the seat of the ego is selfish and on a philosophical level this is to be expected. Also the gamut of psychology is so wide that different people think on different levels and perhaps it just doesn't occur to many people the true effect of their words and actions.

One nugget of wisdom that my step-father taught me was "just because you feel let down by someone, it doesn't mean that they did this deliberately as the thought probably never crossed their mind due to their own psychology. Effectively, people judge others according to their own standards and expect them to adhere to these when in reality, their standards may be different. This is why most people feel let down by others because they expect them to do something because that is what they would do themselves when in reality, someone does something according to their own moral and social codes".

This is intriguing and emphasises the notion that ultimately, we are all alone with our own psychologies. You would have thought that there is at least a unifying fundamental construct on human nature but I am not too sure. Having seen situations over the last fortnight when people have not considered their "friends", both in real life and on the forums, I am wondering whether people are deliberately making others feel bad or whether they are simply not thinking about the consequences of what they do.

A fair few incidents have triggered these thoughts over the last few weeks and some of the stuff that has happened I never want to see again. I don't know why I care so much but if this is the way that some people treat their friends then perhaps I should stop caring too because it's causing far more trouble than it's worth.

P.S. If this post appears arrogant, I am sorry, that is not my intention. I am merely trying to figure out a few things incumbent in my own psychology.

The Nature Of Altruism

I have spent a fair bit of time considering the comments that people left on my LJ last week, particularly regarding the rant I had last Sunday morning. One thing that was brought up was the nature of altruism and people believing that perhaps I am too altruistic (I don't really know if that is true - I accept I always want my friendship circle to be happy and will do all I can to make them so but I wouldn't say I was an altruist by any stretch of the imagination).

Now I accept that true altruism can never exist because human nature is inherently selfish. The instinct to survive makes it so. Equally, altrusits are generally so because it assuages guilt - effectively they do good because they often feel obliged to do so because if they didn't, a guilt complex would kick in. So most good deeds are selfish acts because it makes the good guy feel good about themselves. However, it is better to be selfish in that way than it is to cause pain, suffering and destruction by not thinking about the welfare or others or how your actions impinge on others' lives.

During the last two weeks I have noticed many incidents of people not thinking about how their actions affect others. This has been particularly prevailent in the Fandom although I have noticed it elsewhere too. Whilst I don't think these actions were necessarily done intentionally, I do think that they were borne from the fact that people weren't thinking about how what they say and do can affect others.

Perhaps the seat of the ego is selfish and on a philosophical level this is to be expected. Also the gamut of psychology is so wide that different people think on different levels and perhaps it just doesn't occur to many people the true effect of their words and actions.

One nugget of wisdom that my step-father taught me was "just because you feel let down by someone, it doesn't mean that they did this deliberately as the thought probably never crossed their mind due to their own psychology. Effectively, people judge others according to their own standards and expect them to adhere to these when in reality, their standards may be different. This is why most people feel let down by others because they expect them to do something because that is what they would do themselves when in reality, someone does something according to their own moral and social codes".

This is intriguing and emphasises the notion that ultimately, we are all alone with our own psychologies. You would have thought that there is at least a unifying fundamental construct on human nature but I am not too sure. Having seen situations over the last fortnight when people have not considered their "friends", both in real life and on the forums, I am wondering whether people are deliberately making others feel bad or whether they are simply not thinking about the consequences of what they do.

A fair few incidents have triggered these thoughts over the last few weeks and some of the stuff that has happened I never want to see again. I don't know why I care so much but if this is the way that some people treat their friends then perhaps I should stop caring too because it's causing far more trouble than it's worth.

P.S. If this post appears arrogant, I am sorry, that is not my intention. I am merely trying to figure out a few things incumbent in my own psychology.