Everyone is selfish. Generally, selfishness is seen as a bad thing, but I beg to differ. Being concerned for ones self is a part of our nature and the root of being human. I’d even venture to say that it is the base of many of our actions, though, likely in an implicit manor. I’ll explore a few brief case studies here and leave you to your own conclusions at the end.
Table of Contents
A Critical Preface
As I started this literature, I realized my own ignorance. The word selfish relates to excessive or exclusive concern for oneself. That invalidates most of this article. However, the concept behind this remains interesting, so I shall continue to write.
A Review of this Site
In writing this site, I can see the concept that everyone is selfish. I believe the ideas that I share will help others and will be great brainstorming catalysts. But is that selfless reason the true purpose of my writing? What if, behind the scenes, my implicit self wanted to start this website to satisfy my own needs. My need to document, my desire to connect, my goals of growth. What if these are the true, selfish drivers to my actions?
Donation
The concept of donation challenges the idea that everyone is selfish. Afterall, why would you donate if you were selfish? There are a handful of ways to address this with a selfish mindset:
- Tax benefits
- Minimal regard for money
- What am I gonna do with this quarter anyway
- Ease
- I might as well round this transaction up to the whole dollar since it is already on the screen.
- Guilt
- In order not to feel bad when asked to donate, I may cave.
Sacrifice
Sacrifice may be the hardest concept to address when reviewing this proposal. Donation is a form of sacrifice, sure, but what about giving something more valuable. I have documented at nauseum the importance of time, but let’s go even one step further. Let’s talk about sacrifice of life. How could someone selfishly sacrifice their life? Before moving on to my ideas, for anyone who knows someone that did make this immense sacrifice, I am by no means minimizing what they have done. I’d merely like to explore the possibility of subconscious reasons one may opt to sacrifice themself.
- Limited value comprehension
- If one does not know how important their life is or they feel worthless, it would be easier to give it up. They would get some of the benefits listed below without the same weighted risk on their minds.
- Purpose
- If one believes they are here to sacrifice themself and that is the only thing that will make them feel fulfilled, that would be a form of selfish sacrifice.
- Ego/Pride
- This is most apparent to me. There is great honor associated with self sacrifice, and the fact that one will be praised is a potential selfish driver for sacrifice.
Everyone is Selfish
Nobody knows what is going on in our subconscious when we make decisions. Because of that, it is possible that we are all acting in our selfish interest nearly exclusively. It may be hard to imagine, but hey, wasn’t it fun to try?
To quinclude this brief exploration into selfishness, I’d like to reexplain that this is more of a thought experiment than a true psychological phenomenon that I am exploring. I do believe there are other factors that drive decision making outside of selfishness, and I do believe that selfishness was not the word I was looking for through this piece.
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