How Altruism Is Good

You have no right to exist for yourself. Self-sacrifice is the standard of the good that is altruism. However, altruism has more than one form. Decisions, made on the will of another, or to convince another that what you want for them is better than what they want for themselves. This is the problem with altruism. Our society as a whole should not have much of an altruistic focus, not because altruism is unimportant, but because there is a grey area between altruism and egoism, an area of ideals, intentions, and values. Your own ideal may be different than another’s ideal. Your actions may seem altruistic, but your motivation may only be in your own self-interest. Your values are the same as ideals, which may be different from others. Altruism …show more content…
However, the question is, what are the values in which you consider important? What values would you act on to benefit others? And who should be the beneficiary of such actions? Each one of these questions can be answered with yet another, which removes the morality of self-sacrifice. “Why?” Why must one give, and never receive? Why is it good? Even though altruism says that it is more blessed to give than to receive, it does not work that way in life. In life, the givers are never blessed. Rather, more is demanded of them as they give more. From the implications of true altruism, it leads to multiple psychological consequences, including a lack of knowledge about how to live their life for themselves, a lack of respect for others, as they regard mankind as a multitude of animals crying for help, a nightmarish view of life, as they believe people are trapped within a universe where disasters are the constant problem in their lives, and an indifference to common ethics, as they question things that are very unlikely to occur, such as whether or not to save a man trapped within a burning building, these questions have no relation to common problems that occur in everyday life, leaving them to live with no moral …show more content…
True egoism states that all permissible actions, plans of action, principles of action, and projects must be derived from consideration of self-interest. It’s the justification of the promotion of one’s own interests. In the most extreme of terms, one must only act for their own interests. The ultimate value of a human being their own happiness, disregarding the thoughts of all others. However, true egoism fosters the sense of no moral duty to restrain the pursuit of one’s own interests. In egoism, however, nothing is ever said about moral duty, the respect for others, or allowing the free will of others in regard to their own interests. Therefore, the idea is that an individual’s own welfare is the only thing that is valuable to an individual. True egoism leads to similar problems as altruism, in that it leaves the person believing to no moral