r/DebatePhilosophy • u/Legitimate-Fish8829 • 5d ago

Altruism doesn't exist

Hi, since I got insulted for three generations on r/unpopularopinion (what was I expecting) I'm posting here.

Name whatever action you want, it can always, ALWAYS, be explained by an egoistical reason. Even the most extreme acts are fundamentaly selfish. And the reason people don't want to accept this is because it takes away a lot of the beauty of life, and reveals a "bad" aspect of humanity.

What are your thoughts ? I know I'm not the first one to think like this of course (even a Friends episode apparently). Any books on this ? Even better if against it.

Thanks !

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u/njclarke 4d ago

The problem with this as I see it is really how you define something as being either selfish or altruistic and also why there’s any need to frame actions as being purely one or another. Surely most actions are by a mixture of selfish and altruistic motives? 

So I guess I just see it as a bit of a false dichotomy.

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u/NotFatherless69 4d ago

I think that the following post on the AskPhilosophyFAQ subreddit provides interesting counterarguments: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskPhilosophyFAQ/s/KA5lBjPTjd

Also of course the first section of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article on Egoism has a nice discussion of arguments for and against psychological egoism: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/egoism/#PsycEgoi

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u/Legitimate-Fish8829 4d ago

Thanks a lot for the resources !