Selfish vs Selfless
The psychological egoist said to the psychological altruist “Dude, all behavior is ultimately motivated by self-interest.” The psychological altruist replied “Well… at least some prosocial behavior is ultimately motivated by the concern for the well-being of others.” While these two opponents may have their certain reasons for backing up their statements, I am going to let you know what the deal is and why certain people might believe that the opposing view is false. You can decide whether you support one side or the other. I am going to you why I think that psychological altruism is the correct view.
First let me tell you the difference between these opposing views. A psychological egoist believes that humans are always …show more content…
Instrumental desire is/are: the desire(s) one has for something as a means for something else, which can be rephrased as “Doing something with the intention that it will help one get something else.” An example of an Instrumental desire is as follows: “A random bystander sees a person who appears to be “homeless”, begging for money right in front or a Five-Star restaurant, the bystander approaches the withering being and asks the beggar for a background story. All the beggar has to say is “man you wouldn’t believe how bad my luck with life has been, I don’t even know where to start. I just really need some money to help me get back on my feet.” The intervening bystander agrees to help the beggar regardless of the shallow story that he had just been told but, only under his one condition though. The condition is that he the bystander will give the beggar money to aid him in getting back on his feet only if the beggar registers themselves with the local homeless shelter. They bystander said that they will donate money to the shelter on the condition that it is used specifically to help the beggar. Now, let’s take a closer look at this scenario. According to the psychological egoist view, the bystander had to have some deeper motive in mind when he approached the beggar and offered to help them. Could the real reason that the bystander offered to help the beggar only under the condition that he donated his money through the local homeless shelter specifically to aid the beggar was because he wanted to get a tax deduction on his annual tax return so he would have to pay less taxes. Or could the reason that the bystander approached the beggar and offered to help him was solely due to the fact that the bystander wanted to have a nice visual experience every time he went to the five-star restaurant and didn’t want the businesses customers to be deterred from entering because a lesser classed person was standing next
The psychological egoist said to the psychological altruist “Dude, all behavior is ultimately motivated by self-interest.” The psychological altruist replied “Well… at least some prosocial behavior is ultimately motivated by the concern for the well-being of others.” While these two opponents may have their certain reasons for backing up their statements, I am going to let you know what the deal is and why certain people might believe that the opposing view is false. You can decide whether you support one side or the other. I am going to you why I think that psychological altruism is the correct view.
First let me tell you the difference between these opposing views. A psychological egoist believes that humans are always …show more content…
Instrumental desire is/are: the desire(s) one has for something as a means for something else, which can be rephrased as “Doing something with the intention that it will help one get something else.” An example of an Instrumental desire is as follows: “A random bystander sees a person who appears to be “homeless”, begging for money right in front or a Five-Star restaurant, the bystander approaches the withering being and asks the beggar for a background story. All the beggar has to say is “man you wouldn’t believe how bad my luck with life has been, I don’t even know where to start. I just really need some money to help me get back on my feet.” The intervening bystander agrees to help the beggar regardless of the shallow story that he had just been told but, only under his one condition though. The condition is that he the bystander will give the beggar money to aid him in getting back on his feet only if the beggar registers themselves with the local homeless shelter. They bystander said that they will donate money to the shelter on the condition that it is used specifically to help the beggar. Now, let’s take a closer look at this scenario. According to the psychological egoist view, the bystander had to have some deeper motive in mind when he approached the beggar and offered to help them. Could the real reason that the bystander offered to help the beggar only under the condition that he donated his money through the local homeless shelter specifically to aid the beggar was because he wanted to get a tax deduction on his annual tax return so he would have to pay less taxes. Or could the reason that the bystander approached the beggar and offered to help him was solely due to the fact that the bystander wanted to have a nice visual experience every time he went to the five-star restaurant and didn’t want the businesses customers to be deterred from entering because a lesser classed person was standing next