If Everyone is Altruistic

The day will come, says Spencer, when altruistic inclination will be so well embodied in our organism itself that people will compete for opportunities of self-sacrifice and immolation. When altruistic inclinations are implanted in everyone, how will opportunities arise to apply them? Either such a state presupposes the existence of persecutors, tormentors and tyrants, or else the general urge to sacrifice oneself will engender benefactors who will turn into tormentors and persecutors merely to satisfy this passionate craving for martyrdom. Or will nature itself remain a blind force, and fulfil the role of executioner?

If life is good, to sacrifice it is a loss to those who do so in order to save the lives of others. But will life be good for those who accept the sacrifice and retain their life at the price of the death of others ? How is altruism possible without egotism? Those who sacrifice their lives are altruists, but what are those who accept this sacrifice? If, however, life is not a blessing, then those who sacrifice it are neither making a sacrifice nor committing any meritorious act. If knowledge is divorced from action as it is in class knowledge, learned knowledge, then the instinctive, by becoming conscious, leads to destruction. If morality is an instinct which motivates the sacrifice of the individual for the sake of the species. Spencer argues, it will disintegrate by discovering its origin. If, however, morality is the love of the begotten for those who have given them life, then the consciousness of their origin, which is linked to the death of the parents, instead of stopping short at knowledge, will become the task of resuscitation.

Notes:

Folksonomies: evolution altruism

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/society/welfare (0.374159)

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Entities:
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What was man created for?

Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Fedorov, Nikolaĭ Fedorovich (1990-12), What was man created for?, Hyperion Books, Retrieved on 2015-01-15

Source Material [www.regels.org]

Folksonomies: philosophy cosmism transhumanism

Triples

16 JAN 2015

The Ideal Mean of Altruism

The Importance of Altruism in Human Evolution > Contrast > If Everyone is Altruistic

Folksonomies: altruism