Why People Do Things

[FlubbyWubs]

I agree with what your saying, but I also believe it has to do with the brain.. its a mysterious thing.

Also, I thought I would let you know, that when I read the title of this I lmao. I thought to myself, "hmm, why do people do things? That's like asking why do we take a shit.. because we do!". Lol but anyhooooooo........

 

[MatthewGor123]

You would get a great feeling of importance if you sacrificed/risked your life to save someone. Do you think so?

You can't feel if you're dead. And at the time of doing something like this, I doubt you'll be thinking "ooh, I can become a hero if I save these people!" In fact, I doubt you'd be thinking rationally at all - your desire to do good would just overcome your sense of rationality.

 

[wtp]

You can't feel if you're dead. And at the time of doing something like this, I doubt you'll be thinking "ooh, I can become a hero if I save these people!" In fact, I doubt you'd be thinking rationally at all - your desire to do good would just overcome your sense of rationality.

Well you may want to consider that if you ever get the chance to sacrifice your life for someone ;-)

 

[Christmas Crackers]

You can't feel if you're dead. And at the time of doing something like this, I doubt you'll be thinking "ooh, I can become a hero if I save these people!" In fact, I doubt you'd be thinking rationally at all - your desire to do good would just overcome your sense of rationality.

There are plenty of examples for why you would sacrifice yourself to save others.
1. You know from movies/TV/media that those who sacrifice themselves are considered heroes. If at the moment when you are making the decision to sacrifice yourself you think of being a hero, then you sacrifice yourself.
2. You have some sort of emotional connection between the person you are saving, so you sacrifice yourself because you have so much love for the person that you cannot imagine living without them, or you cannot imagine having to bear the pain of their death.
3. You know that the person you are saving will go on to live a great life and accomplish greater things than you would. You admire this person, and because you think highly of this person, you want him/her to feel the same way. You sacrifice yourself because you know that person who will go on to do great things will always remember you/speak of you.

These are some of the countless examples.

Also, you mentioned the desire to do good. Is that not in your rational self-interest? Your desire to do good IS your self-interest, and if it means sacrificing yourself, then that IS the action of self interest.

 

[wtp]

After much discussion me and atlas001 have finally came to a agreement that we both believe in, here it is:

We do everything in our best interest. It may be selfish or unselfish depending on how it affects other people.

Example:
We do everything in our best interest. It may be selfish or unselfish depending on how it affects other people. For example, let's say you have homework to do and don't do it, than your parents get mad at you for not doing your homework. By doing that they might yell at you they might punish you, and than they'll be concerned about your grades... That puts stress on them, which by that makes you selfish. On the other hand lets say that you do your homework (In your own best interest of course, but its also in your parents best interest), that'll make your parents happy which is you being selfless.

 

[MatthewGor123]

There are plenty of examples for why you would sacrifice yourself to save others.
1. You know from movies/TV/media that those who sacrifice themselves are considered heroes. If at the moment when you are making the decision to sacrifice yourself you think of being a hero, then you sacrifice yourself.
2. You have some sort of emotional connection between the person you are saving, so you sacrifice yourself because you have so much love for the person that you cannot imagine living without them, or you cannot imagine having to bear the pain of their death.
3. You know that the person you are saving will go on to live a great life and accomplish greater things than you would. You admire this person, and because you think highly of this person, you want him/her to feel the same way. You sacrifice yourself because you know that person who will go on to do great things will always remember you/speak of you.

These are some of the countless examples.

Also, you mentioned the desire to do good. Is that not in your rational self-interest? Your desire to do good IS your self-interest, and if it means sacrificing yourself, then that IS the action of self interest.

Okay, so what if you're in the middle of the forest with a group of 10 people you never met, and you see fire? They need to throw somebody at the fire to put it out, and every second they spend deciding increases the risk of everyone dying. You decide to sacrifice yourself to benefit everybody. How is this self-interest? You cannot use TV/Media as an example, because I'm sure there are thousands of people who have died in order to protect something. Take people in the Army, for example. You know of the group, but do you know specific names? No.

Hmm. Interesting thought,

 

[Atlas001]

Genius!

 

[MatthewGor123]

Genius!

Which post was this related to? :O What was "Genius!"

 

[Christmas Crackers]

Okay, so what if you're in the middle of the forest with a group of 10 people you never met, and you see fire? They need to throw somebody at the fire to put it out, and every second they spend deciding increases the risk of everyone dying. You decide to sacrifice yourself to benefit everybody. How is this self-interest? You cannot use TV/Media as an example, because I'm sure there are thousands of people who have died in order to protect something. Take people in the Army, for example. You know of the group, but do you know specific names? No.

Hmm. Interesting thought,

1. You sacrifice yourself so as to appear the hero from the time you make the decision to the time you are actually sacrificed.
2. You offer to sacrifice yourself now so that you do not feel the guilt of letting someone else die to save your life; to avoid looking like a coward.

 

[Atlas001]

Which post was this related to? :O What was "Genius!"

Ah it was to wtp I guess you beat me to the post, I didn't feel like quoting him didn't think any one would beat me to the next post.

And yes you proved a good point with that forest one which is exactly what the new theory Phil and I states. Thanks

 

[Atlas001]

1. You sacrifice yourself so as to appear the hero from the time you make the decision to the time you are actually sacrificed.
2. You offer to sacrifice yourself now so that you do not feel the guilt of letting someone else die to save your life; to avoid looking like a coward.

Well right there, if you would sacrifice yourself for those reasons than it would be selfish and fearful. What if you're really scared of fire and don't want to die by it? Than I don't think you would step up to the plate, but if you did you would be doing it completely selflessly.

 

[Christmas Crackers]

Well right there, if you would sacrifice yourself for those reasons than it would be selfish and fearful. What if you're really scared of fire and don't want to die by it? Than I don't think you would step up to the plate, but if you did you would be doing it completely selflessly.

No, you wouldn't be doing it selflessly, because there would be a motive.

 

[Atlas001]

No, you wouldn't be doing it selflessly, because there would be a motive.

Ya, but my motive would be to save the lives of others by scrificing my own, could you tell me how that's selfish? I mean there's a motive for everything, which is what me and Phil settled on but motives can be selfish or selfless.

 

[Christmas Crackers]

Ya, but my motive would be to save the lives of others by scrificing my own, could you tell me how that's selfish? I mean there's a motive for everything, which is what me and Phil settled on but motives can be selfish or selfless.

It's a MOTIVE, how can it be selfless. A selfless motive, that's an oxymoron right there.

 

[mike_w_99]

sorry,but people want drugs, money, and girls. lol . and those 3 reasons are why i started drugs haha

 

[Atlas001]

It's a MOTIVE, how can it be selfless. A selfless motive, that's an oxymoron right there.

a motive is an emotion or a desire or plenty of other things, so a motive is everything, a motive is everywhere.

being selfish would be only caring about yourself or doing something to benefit yourself.

being selfless is having no concern for yourself.

So tell me something here, if you jump into a fire to put it out in order to save the lives of others would that be selfish, or selfless?

i mean how could jumping into a fire be caring about yourself? are you not caring about the other people you are saving? how would it be benefiting yourself? you'll have fame you'll never see, because you're dead.

 

[MatthewGor123]

a motive is an emotion or a desire or plenty of other things, so a motive is everything, a motive is everywhere.

being selfish would be only caring about yourself or doing something to benefit yourself.

being selfless is having no concern for yourself.

So tell me something here, if you jump into a fire to put it out in order to save the lives of others would that be selfish, or selfless?

i mean how could jumping into a fire be caring about yourself? are you not caring about the other people you are saving? how would it be benefiting yourself? you'll have fame you'll never see, because you're dead.

I guess you can argue that you'll have a legacy, which is something that matters to a lot of people. But TBH, I agree 100%.

 

[Atlas001]

Thank you Matt, I appreciate you being open-minded and seeing this discussion from every point of view. We've already proved that you can do things selflessly because of emotion which is a motive, so I don't know what christmas Crackers is still going on about but hopefully he'll come around. Not saying he's wrong just he's not right either... Nobodies right.

 

[Christmas Crackers]

If I ever find my Psychology book from my senior year in high school I will quote the proof that altruism does not in fact exist. I am extremely open-minded, and just like you, I argued with my teacher for weeks about altruism after his lecture about it. He put up with my incessant arguing and finally I realized he was right, and now I cannot even imagine thinking otherwise.
If you, however, want to think otherwise, that's fine, I'm just shedding some light on the other side of the argument, but I guess you are too hard set with your opinion

 

[Tony Soprano]

I love Sythe!!!