05-30-2011, 06:48 PM
If you reduce it to that level I think the answer is no, even in the speeding car scenario. Some people would do it, some wouldn't. The ones who would, even if they sacrificed their own lives in the process, would do so because they (even if it's just instinctively) believed that it was the "right" thing to do.
To be absolutely altruistic it would have to be something you believed should definitely not be done, so that you couldn't possibly derive any satisfaction from having done the 'right' thing.
[Having said that, I don't think that feeling pleased at having done a good deed is in any way a bad thing.]
To be absolutely altruistic it would have to be something you believed should definitely not be done, so that you couldn't possibly derive any satisfaction from having done the 'right' thing.
[Having said that, I don't think that feeling pleased at having done a good deed is in any way a bad thing.]
"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool."