virus: (un)selfishness

Reed Konsler (konsler@ascat.harvard.edu)
Tue, 22 Apr 1997 14:23:57 -0400 (EDT)


>From: Robin Faichney <r.j.faichney@stir.ac.uk>
>Date: Mon, 21 Apr 1997 15:51:00 +0100
>
>Isn't there anyone else on the list who, like me, questions
>the meaningfulness of "ultimate motivation"? Where
>people say things like "every human action is ultimately
>selfish" do they think that is or ever will be testable?

I do. Reed questions the meaningfulness of ideas like
"ultimate motivation".

>Ultimately, for me, nothing is *either* selfish *or*
>unselfish, because the self is a fiction. But let's
>face the fact that for practical purposes the selfish/
>unselfish distinction is useful, and to say that
>selfishness is all there is, is of no benefit to anyone.

I agree. Most behaviors in life are overdetermined;
resulting from a number of causes some of which
might be defined as "selfish" and others "selfless".
I think we are becoming aware the idea of "self" is,
itself, is a little to vague for our nitpicking minds.

Curiouser and Curiouser

Reed

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Reed Konsler konsler@ascat.harvard.edu
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