Quote:
Originally Posted by MolsonInBothHands
This reminds me of that Kevin Bacon movie, Hollow Man.
If a person could do anything they wanted without repercussions, with no chance of getting caught, they would probably do it.
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That's like Plato's
The Ring of Gyges, where he basically makes the point that morality is a social construct. Would you rather be unjust but considered just by others, or the opposite?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cowboy89
My take is that at the core humanity is self-interested and self-lessness is a learned behavior. Out of self-interest what is defined as 'evil' would be the negative side effects of people acting in self-interest. Thus the furthest advanced nations of the world have an econmic system in place that reconizes and harnesses this innate human trait, and a political system designed to identify and rectify situations where self-interest creates negative externalities for the common group. Of course the systems in place are far from perfect, but they reflect the traits of their imperfect designers.
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I think our "good" and "evil" actions are just byproducts of us acting in our own self interest; or our selfish behavior being judged, so to speak. However, I think there are no unselfish acts and that selflessness does not exist at all. Rather the learned behavior of certain people results in a mindset that produces more "good" behavior as a result of them acting in their own self interest.
For instance, suppose you steal $1000 from someone to further your own self interests. Most people would see this as "evil" behavior. Then suppose you felt bad about it afterwards and donated it to charity. Or that the authorities were closing in and you give it all to the local orphanage to cover your tracks. Most people would see that as "good behavior." However, this "good" behavior again derives from your own self interests: in the first case you donated the money to charity to eliminate some of the guilt you felt from stealing in the first place. In the second case, you did it to evade potential capture. So even though both actions are considered good behavior, they are still derived from your own self interests.
Even if you, say, donate to charity anonymously I believe the ultimate reason behind this would be a selfish one. Perhaps you possess a certain set of moral beliefs that needed to be satisfied (ie: helping others), or else maybe it just made you feel good.
As you said Cowboy89, I think the reason capitalism is the best system humanity has come up with so far is that it acknowledges humanity is inherently selfish and uses this to benefit society as a whole.