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Honestly tho~ FiggusFiddus, I don't know if it would make me feel good, nor like a better person,
as more it was just something that "needed to be done"....

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Then it gives you satisfaction--you feel better having it done than having it sticking out there, awkwardly. There are a million words for it, but it's all the same concept.

That would be purely self-serving, though, not altruistic at all--the benefit for others would be accidental.

If you have the urge to do it, you're receiving a benefit from it, though it might be the smallest benefit imaginable. There was actually some philosophy professor who tried to quantify happiness, and he stated that the (arbitrary) basic unit of happiness was that received from pushing a pencil across one's desk or table, back and forth, back and forth. Yeah, it's not going to make you cream yourself, but... well, it does kind of make you happy. A very, very, very little bit. "Look what I can do! *push*

Silversoul said:

How does one benefit from giving one's life for another human being?

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By feeling really, really good about it. You know, for a split-second. Then you die. Most people do tend to think that death isn't the end, and whether they're mistaken or not, there is undeniably a thought process that says, "This really means I'm awesome. It justifies my whole existence up to this point." That thought may also lead to, "I get into The Good Place, and avoid Some Eternal Shithole."

I'm not saying it's a fair trade at all, but it is a benefit, as I said in my first post.

I don't think this is a solid criticism of altruism, but it is one that exists. Somehow people think that to have a benefit, even an emotional or otherwise-mental one, ruins the process of altruism. I'd say it reinforces the tendency of humans to commit altruistic acts, so it's a good thing, overall, that we enjoy being altruistic.

figgusfiddus said:

Silversoul said:

How does one benefit from giving one's life for another human being?

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By feeling really, really good about it. You know, for a split-second. Then you die.

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So, if someone died in an impromptu act of attempting to save someone else's life,
but died prematurely - (before the act was knowingly completed and successful),
how would one have time to have the delightfully selfish "I feel good about myself" celebration....?
There is nothing to feel good about unless they knew the outcome of their choices....?

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Well he/she had the motivation to save somebody, it's still "feeling good". That thought that he/she can save someone made them have a state of well-being.
He died... he died...
It's not altruistic because nobody intends to die (accident of no accident), they intend to save. That what I think we should keep our focus on, in either case.

And... what does permanently dead mean?

Kinematics said:

I'll hold the door open for someone, it serves me no benefit.
Same with slowing down to let someone merge onto the freeway.
None of it serves me any benefit, but I do it without a thought.
I think selfless acts are something this whole world is severely lacking.

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MushroomTrip said:

And... what does permanently dead mean?

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I said "died prematurely", not "died permanently"....     


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