Daboo on :
I think that up to a certain stage of morality, everything you do does indeed either benefit you, or avoids an unpleasant outcome such as punishment. According to Kohlberg, both reactions are the most basic, unsophisticated moral stages, such as a child might have. (Of course, I've known a lot of teenagers and adults at this stage, too.)
As we mature and grow we develop a regard for the rules as the rules, and we feel satisfied with ourselves because we are following the law. Most of us are at this stage. We disapprove of people who break the law because they are breaking the law, not necessarily because they're hurting someone by doing so. Now, I guess the question is, is feeling self-satisfied the same as being selfish? Is it selfish to feel positive about our lawfulness?
Of course, Kohlberg's final stages deal with a belief in absolute Good and Right, and following our conscience regardless of the law. Kohlberg believed almost no one reached this stage, though I disagree. Regardless, I think at this stage there is little selfishness. Someone with high moral function would do something that seems ultimately unselfish, even sacrifice herself, because it's the right thing to do. I'm sure some would argue that it's selfish to sacrifice yourself, because you feel good about yourself right before you die, but I think that's absurd. You are going to DIE. That goes against all the primal fears that we have, including our basic instinct for selfishness (self-preservation.)
As for me, I have done lots of things that I don't think I benefited from, but I did them just because they were right. For example, my three-year-old has kept me up for hours and hours at night because he was sick. I stayed awake and tended him, but I didn't do it for a selfish reason. I didn't enjoy it or feel good about myself afterward. I didn't even get a warm motherly glow, just exhaustion. The selfish thing to do would have been to keep sleeping. Would he have survived? Absolutely. Would anyone have made me feel bad? No, no one would have even known. Why, then, did I do it? Because it needed to be done.
As we mature and grow we develop a regard for the rules as the rules, and we feel satisfied with ourselves because we are following the law. Most of us are at this stage. We disapprove of people who break the law because they are breaking the law, not necessarily because they're hurting someone by doing so. Now, I guess the question is, is feeling self-satisfied the same as being selfish? Is it selfish to feel positive about our lawfulness?
Of course, Kohlberg's final stages deal with a belief in absolute Good and Right, and following our conscience regardless of the law. Kohlberg believed almost no one reached this stage, though I disagree. Regardless, I think at this stage there is little selfishness. Someone with high moral function would do something that seems ultimately unselfish, even sacrifice herself, because it's the right thing to do. I'm sure some would argue that it's selfish to sacrifice yourself, because you feel good about yourself right before you die, but I think that's absurd. You are going to DIE. That goes against all the primal fears that we have, including our basic instinct for selfishness (self-preservation.)
As for me, I have done lots of things that I don't think I benefited from, but I did them just because they were right. For example, my three-year-old has kept me up for hours and hours at night because he was sick. I stayed awake and tended him, but I didn't do it for a selfish reason. I didn't enjoy it or feel good about myself afterward. I didn't even get a warm motherly glow, just exhaustion. The selfish thing to do would have been to keep sleeping. Would he have survived? Absolutely. Would anyone have made me feel bad? No, no one would have even known. Why, then, did I do it? Because it needed to be done.
