Revise philosophy paper

29 October 2018

The Theory Behind a Selfish Human

In this paper I will be addressing one of the most foundational questions in ethics; whether human beings are naturally selfish, naturally altruistic, or whether circumstance is primarily responsible for these tendencies in a culture. I will be discussing mostly as to why humans have always been considered selfish or naturally altruistic. Human beings are regarded as complex and ambiguous beings with alluring secrets hidden in every cortex fold. The paper is aimed at evaluating human behavior to identify if the human being is naturally more inclined towards being selfish and possess the urge of being at a more advantageous position. Compared to others, or humans are naturally altruistic and cooperative. The paper also seeks to clarify if any of the above premises hold true or the environmental influence ad external circumstances, and not the natural impulse of humans are responsible for predicting human behavior.

Humans are innately cooperative but when humans put too much consideration on matters of decision the behavior depicted in the decision might be selfish of self-fulfilling (Fields, 2012). The various groups have proved the view of the initial innate corporation and ethical orientation and individual experiments. The verdict of such experiments was that people when to make decisions quickly and have no time to think and evaluate the situation crucially, they usually make decisions that are targeted to collective good and has ethical orientation. This notion favors the idea that there are some innate psychological phenomenon’s that play a deceive role in the human behaviors being displayed. Many researchers to prove the innate notion of ethic or selfishness that is possessed by human beings have advocated the same verdict. The role of internal factors such as genetics has been found to be. Studies being conducted on the twins have highlighted the role of genes associated with altruism and egoism (Robinson, 1 Sep 2014,).

Opposing this school of thoughts, external factors also play an important role in determinations of human behaviors. (Robinson, 1 Sep 2014,) Advocates that external factors to which the humans have been exposed play a vital role in the determination of a person’s behavioral orientation. These external factors include the peer pressure, culture, family norms, schooling and institutes and also the social and sociocultural expectation from a person. Thus, it is conclusively viewed that external factor and not innate orientation are responsible for egoism or altruism. Above stated are two opposing arguments, one of which states that the humans are generally cooperative however perceive selfishness as advantageous. And the second view states that humans don’t have an innate orientation, but the external factors evoke such behavioral orientation.

There are many theories that provide a Philosopher’s view on the above-stated arguments. The first theory is the Hobbes view of egoism, stating that voluntary acts of people are motivated by personal interests which means that according to his view people should act innately selfish the act if altruism must be ruled out. This supports the idea of the existence of an innate orientation, however, it strictly rules out or denies that the people are innately cooperative. Another view can be the fact that the experiments suggest that decision taken involuntary or quickly are usually inclined towards innate corporation however one’s voluntary effort is exerted; the decisions are more inclined towards egoism. So, the voluntary actions in this view can be those, which are thought upon which in the case the argument holds true. The view is massively related to what we call hedonism. Hobbes stated that personal good and interest has the ability to influence all voluntarily conducted actions of humans, but this view can be extended to incorporate that involuntarily conducted actions do have altruism.

Another related theory the view of Hobbes is the utilitarianism. This theory is widely accepted and is known worldwide to be the base of modern day ethics. The theory of utilitarianism state that hand should consider the act, which yields “greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people.” This means that our actions must be evaluated based on the fact that the act provides happiness to a maximum number of people and not just us. This is a somewhat extended version Hobbes view into the social Hedonism where people are affected by the pain of others. This supports the view that people should make decisions based on the corporation and mutual gain. If the premises hold true people should be inheritably cooperative and must think about the pain of the others as well to reach to a conclusion, which does not rely only on the self-fulfillment but also care about others.

Human behavior, although shaped by various external stimuli, still depends largely on the internal innate orientations. This has been confirmed using various experiments over the course of time that humans performing decision in a hurry would eventually have a more cooperative outlook as compared to decisions that are well informed. Hence the idea that humans are naturally included in one of the behaviors is true. Theories provided by various scholars and thinkers also support the idea of humans being innately altruistic. The theory of utilitarianism also supports the idea that the act should be evaluated based on the analysis of its impact on the general public, therefore, a person who follows the will of his heart would definitely incorporate the pain and other people and take into account the greater picture. This will automatically direct the behaviors exhibited by people in the best interest of others. Such behaviors will show social hedonism and collective good. Hence from the above is a discussion, the idea that there is a natural orientation of a person to act in an altruistic and cooperative way and give value to the mutual benefits for a greater number of people.

Work Cited

Fields, H. (2012). Mulling over a Decision Makes People More Selfish, Study Suggests. Science . Robinson, M. ( 1 Sep 2014,). Ro “Are People Naturally Inclined to Cooperate or Be Selfish. Scientific American, . (Palmer 54). Palmer, Donald. Does the Center Hold? An Introduction to Western Philosophy.7th ed., McGraw-Hill, 2016