Selfishness: An Unjust Morality

Ralph Waldo Emerson starts “Self-Reliance” with emphasis upon self-thought rather than submissively accepting someone else’s ideas. He promotes the idea that personal knowledge from experience is in a higher tier than knowledge gained from books. He says, “To believe that what is true in your private heart is true for all men — that is genius” (1004). People who rely on someone else’s opinions lack the creative power necessary for intrepid, unfaltering individualism. Emerson repeats “Trust thyself” throughout the selection. This motto ties the first section of the essay together. To rely on someone else’s opinion or judgment is cowardly, but someone who is self-reliant exhibits originality and is child-like – free from selfish needs – yet mature.

I agree with the people who said the Puritans were both selfless and selfish. According to Document A: 'City upon a Hill, ' the leader of the 1630 migration, John Winthrop suggested that everyone work together to achieve prosperity. He specifically says, "We must be knit together in this work as one man; we must take care of each other with bortherly affection." He seemed to be driving people into working for one another rather than for oneself. Unlike the failed attempt at settling in Jamestown, the Puritans seemed to be on the right path to success (by working selflessly and helping one another). Uniting to work as a group certainly sounds better than working and trying to survive as an individual. Winthrop also mentions that they shall

In today’s world, one can find many instances of selfishness, whether it be corruption, killing, or even breaking a heart. However, like a diamond in the rough, someone who is truly selfless is hard to come by. One example of a selfless writer is C.S. Lewis, author of Till We Have Faces. Lewis wrote some of his novels in a way to not only educate the world that selflessness will always win but also the fact that selfishness will always lose. One of Lewis’s notable works -- “Till We Have Faces” -- clearly demonstrates how selfishness loses but selflessness wins. In “Till We Have Faces” by C.S. Lewis, Lewis portrays Orual as a villain as a result of her jealous actions which not only resulted in Psyche’s exile but also Psyche being forced to complete difficult tasks in order to regain her favor; however, Orual’s actions highlight the hidden message that Lewis is trying to convey - jealous/selfish love

Not caring for others can make someone not see the big things in life. In the short story Box Nine by Rob Thomas, a girl named Teesha is doing a community service project during Thanksgiving to give food to the poor in order to walk the stage for graduation. Teesha is accompanied with other students throughout this community service project who don’t care about the poor people and only about themselves. Selfishness can make a person not care for others because the students questioned the poor people's life choices. When the students delivered box six the students saw a man puffing cigarettes and wondered why he was able to afford cigarettes and not food. After that, the students delivered box seven to a woman and she gave them lemonade and

In Germany during World War Two was a time where everyone had to fight for themselves to survive, using and sacrificing others in the bloody, crippling, concentration camps. That is what almost everyone would think at first, because most humans want to live and experience what the world can offer. However, there are certain situations where people do the opposite and perform actions for the sake of others and that would harm themselves. In the comic book series of Maus by Art Spiegelman, book Night by Elie Wiesel, movie The Book Thief directed by Brian Percival, and there is a parallel idea. The common theme within these several works is self-sacrifice.

Many people throughout their lives at least once acted recklessly and irrationally to overcome challenges. Without thinking thoughtfully, the actions they performed may have harmed others or themselves. This is why the phrase, “think before you act” is created, to prevent others from performing tactless maneuvers to satisfy their challenges and emotions. In the novel, A Brave New World, Aldous Huxley suggests that individuals who act recklessly in the face of adversity will fail miserably; these reckless actions will cause despair and grief for the individual or others because of their lack of thinking and overwhelming of emotions.

Imagine living in a world where everybody's lives are completely mapped out by the government. Where every decision is made without the input of the citizens it affects. In the novella Anthem, Ayn Rand depicts a completely collectivist society, where every idea, action, and invention is purely for the benefit of society as a whole. Everything is done with the entire population in mind, and individuality is extremely frowned upon. However, when the story's protagonist, Equality, makes a huge scientific discovery, his intentions are more selfish than that.

“If civilization is to survive, it is the morality of altruism that people must learn to reject.” -Ayn Rand. To be compassionate and unselfish seems to be a noble and magnanimous pursuit. Altruism is admired, it is beautiful, and it is praised. And yet, it goes against our very natures. There is no reason we should sacrifice ourselves to save a dying child. Our instincts tell us to keep ourselves alive, that we are important. Thus, altruism is a beautiful conquering of our savage animal instincts. Ayn Rand disagrees. In her book, Anthem, the protagonist, Equality 7-2521, heroically conquers the evil Collectivist ideas by discovering the idea behind the word, “Ego.” She argues against brotherhood and altruism through her loveless, beautiless society. Selflessness is not in human nature, so by replacing egotism, the society replaced art, love, and all of the things that used to be paired with altruism as beautiful. Selflessness must be balanced with egotism, lest we lose the things that make us human.

The word chivalry can be found throughout history. Some may only connect chivalry with knights in shining armor. However, the term shows more complexity than that. It is argued whether or not chivalry is dead, some believe chivalry is dead. Although, others believe that it is not dead ,but has evolved over time. Many think of chivalry as a man holding the door open for a women or taking her coat, but men are not the only ones to perform acts of chivalry. Women as well should be performing these acts. Chivalry can be compared to altruism, simply meaning selfless actions for others. Chivalry can be found in today's society,however, it seems to be dying and we as a society need to work to keep it alive.

Poverty is the state of being extremely poor. Most people face poverty once they have children and start to live on their own. In “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift he presents a solution to mothers who are poor and cannot consume enough for the children. However, Peter Singer's view in “The Singer Solution to World Poverty” is to create the best outcome for those who are poor. To solve the world's problems everyone needs to help each other, stop being selfish, children to not be disturb, and adults to have same job opportunities, however others oppose saying the best way to solve world poverty problems would be to feed the wealthy with the poor.

Today we live in a world where nothing is free, and many people have an expectation on receiving something in return when they provide some sort of service for someone. However, society is helping create a norm of altruism by asking, advertising, and announcing situations when selfless acts are performed. Altruism behavior consists of being selfless and wanting to help others in need, without feeling obligated. Several psychologists define altruism as “a motivational state with the ultimate goal of increasing another’s welfare” (Batson, 1981). Thanks to the media, we are able to witness people demonstrating concerns for the welfare and well-being of others which has helped the encouragement for people to have altruistic behavior. However, not everyone has or feels the drive to be helpful towards others, and may choose to ignore situations with people in need of help.

In the book A Practical Companion to Ethics, Weston describes the three most popular ethical theories: The Ethics of Happiness, The Ethics of the Person, and The Ethics of Virtue. After studying the different approaches and discussing them in class, I have found I resonate the most with the Ethics of a Person. I have found this theory emphasizes the importance of human personality and equality, and asks us to treat others as such rather than objects. I interpreted the theory to mean that we all born the same and have the same worth, no matter how different we are individually. It asks us to be aware of each person's unique beauty, and to treat them respectfully, as you would like to be respected in return. The more mutual respect that is created

In conclusion, either way, both women are extremely a selfish human being, especially Abigail because she looks out for own need only. But as for Elizabeth, her character change from being cold to noble and sincere when Elizabeth began to help John Proctor into confessing; telling him to forgive him, and she won’t judge him. Author Miller explains that women can be selfish when it comes to love. Also, it illustrates how a small amount of women’s selfishness can hurt tons of people. All women just want to keep all the love, they don 't like sharing, honestly, whether the choice is right or wrong, it’s what make them happy and feel secure even selfishness kills everyone. But sometime being selfish make us a stronger and better person.

James Morris Lawson has been called one of the greatest nonviolent direct-action teachers to have ever lived. Martin Luther King, Jr, a Civil Rights icon, even believed that Lawson was something out of the ordinary. James Lawson worked and sculpted himself into what some would say, a monumental man, for his nonviolent tactics and forms of direct action during the Civil Rights movement. His views on racial equality through nonviolent means were foundational to the later Civil Rights leaders of the 1960’s. His commitment to political activism and equality developed at a young age, has not diminished in over seventy years. Throughout Lawsons life, there are direct correlations between his work and moral ethics to theories pioneered by the genius

Behind every act of kindness lurks a selfish motivation. The Puritans were a religious sect in 17th century New England who believed in predestination or the belief that God had prior knowledge about each person’s fate in the afterlife. A core ideal of the Puritan religion was the principle of humanity being essentially evil and only doing good for others out of fear for God’s wrath or for selfish benefit. On the other end of the spectrum, is the humanists of the 18th century, many of which were America’s founding fathers. The humanists believed in the good of humanity and the concept of a loving, non-interfering God, a concept called Deism. Human motivation for good deeds is a mixture of both philosophies; however, it is primarily out of fear and selfishness.