I've been struggling with this.
I would like to think of myself as a logical being, I would like to think I make the choices that I do based on a logical thought process with a minimum of emotional interference. A problem that I have with this is that a completely logical being is completely selfish. Any altruistic acts are inevitably designed to benefit the actor in the long term.
This troubles me.
The explanation, I assume, is that I am not a logical being. There must be enough sentiment in me that I am troubled by the consequences of completely logical action. This is nice, I guess.
But wait.
What are emotions? Where did they come from? If emotions are just a set of tools with which evolution has equipped us with to further our genes, then they too have a logical basis of action. We feel sad when others are hurt because most likely they were our kin or would have provided some evolutionary benefit to us. Our empathy serves an extremely logical purpose: the proliferation of the individuals' genetic material and that of their kin. These emotions are based in logic, but they do not always work in concert with each other or with the other logical systems of our minds.
Which brings me back to...
my logical self. Perhaps there were some things I was overlooking. I made the assumption earlier that a logical being would only be interested in its own survival. That simply isn't true. It might be that the root of logical morality is curiosity. I realize that as a human I can accomplish a finite number of things before I die. If my goal is experience the world to its fullest in my time on it, I must act unselfishly to facilitate others in achieving their goals, no matter how small, so that I and the rest of humanity can appreciate them.
It is possible and convenient when the emotional side syncs up with this process but care must be taken identify when it does not.
There is more to this, but I'm hungry.
12 years ago
