[quote]redsol1 wrote:
"Do not hide behind such superficialities as whether you should or should not give a dime to a beggar. That is not the issue. The issue is whether you do or do not have the right to exist without giving him that dime.
The issue is whether you must keep buying your life, dime by dime, from any beggar who might choose to approach you. The issue is whether the need of others is the first mortgage on your life and the moral purpose of your existence. The issue is whether man is to be regarded as a sacrificial animal. Any man of self-esteem will answer: ‘No.’ Altruism says: ‘Yes’." – Ayn Rand in Faith and Force: The Destroyers of the Modern World
'Nuf said
La’
Redsol1[/quote]
Wow man all you did was re-state the question being asked, except you used different words.
"Mr. Reardon…if you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, and you saw that the harder Atlas struggled to hold the world up, the more the world bore down upon him, what would you tell him to do?
I don’t know. What could he do? What would YOU tell him?
To shrug."
— from (drumroll please)…Atlas Shrugged by Rand.
The above is from memory, btw. Not bragging, just pointing out. Read the original, way better.
[quote]Headhunter wrote:
Hmmm…if I am unselfish and give something of value (money, volunteering, whatever) to another person or to a community…[/quote]
Here’s something else to consider. Warren Buffet recently donated a few billion to charitable foundations. Had he donated large amounts years ago, he would have been unable to give this much (or follow through on his intention to donate substantially all his net worth upon his death).
So had he been “generous” at a younger age, he never would have had the capital to donate now (and in the future). So was he selfish all along?
When considering this point, remember that his company’s worth increased much faster than the broader market.
[quote]Ruggerlife wrote:
Headhunter wrote:
Hmmm…if I am unselfish and give something of value (money, volunteering, whatever) to another person or to a community…
Here’s something else to consider. Warren Buffet recently donated a few billion to charitable foundations. Had he donated large amounts years ago, he would have been unable to give this much (or follow through on his intention to donate substantially all his net worth upon his death).
So had he been “generous” at a younger age, he never would have had the capital to donate now (and in the future). So was he selfish all along?
When considering this point, remember that his company’s worth increased much faster than the broader market.[/quote]
As long as he works to make himself happy AS A RATIONAL BEING (which includes doing no harm to others), then he is being perfectly moral. If he now gains happiness by using his fortune to help those who are in need, that’s okay too. What he considers ‘happiness’ has changed: he now values the well-being of others over the money.
Morality has to be rooted in pleasure, or humans won’t do it for very long. A pseudo-moral principle that creates pain (such as Hitler’s form of altruism, living for the Aryan race) won’t last very long.
Look how long another altruistic society, the Soviet Union, lasted. It demanded that its members live for the Proletariat. The country thus became a charnel house of pain and misery.
Wow man all you did was re-state the question being asked, except you used different words.
[/quote]
If that’s all you want to get out of that post, fine. I don’t remember using a question mark in my punctuation.
Rand covers the idea of selfishness a lot in her fiction and philosophy texts. She asks the question which is more honest, acting unselfish for selfish reasons or being true to your own desires and acting for your own good.
[quote]Ruggerlife wrote:
Headhunter wrote:
Hmmm…if I am unselfish and give something of value (money, volunteering, whatever) to another person or to a community…
Here’s something else to consider. Warren Buffet recently donated a few billion to charitable foundations. Had he donated large amounts years ago, he would have been unable to give this much (or follow through on his intention to donate substantially all his net worth upon his death).
So had he been “generous” at a younger age, he never would have had the capital to donate now (and in the future). So was he selfish all along?
When considering this point, remember that his company’s worth increased much faster than the broader market.[/quote]
The hilarious part is that he benefitted mankind probably far more by investing in companies that were needed by other human beings than by giving it to charity.
Maybe is act of altruism are a reason to weep, he could have doen so much better things with that money than enriching African dictators.
[quote]orion wrote:
Ruggerlife wrote:
Headhunter wrote:
Hmmm…if I am unselfish and give something of value (money, volunteering, whatever) to another person or to a community…
Here’s something else to consider. Warren Buffet recently donated a few billion to charitable foundations. Had he donated large amounts years ago, he would have been unable to give this much (or follow through on his intention to donate substantially all his net worth upon his death).
So had he been “generous” at a younger age, he never would have had the capital to donate now (and in the future). So was he selfish all along?
When considering this point, remember that his company’s worth increased much faster than the broader market.
The hilarious part is that he benefitted mankind probably far more by investing in companies that were needed by other human beings than by giving it to charity.[/quote]
Yeah, like Coca-Cola, McDonalds, and Dairy Queen.
Actually I’m a “fan” of his investment record and investment philosophy. Every business student should read the handbook to owning Berkshire Hathaway shares.
[quote]
Maybe is act of altruism are a reason to weep, he could have doen so much better things with that money than enriching African dictators.[/quote]
Not sure what you are alluding to specifically. I’m guessing you have an issue with the Bill and Malinda Gates Foundation. Since their focus is AIDS related they will spend a great amount of money in Africa and some will end up in dictators hands, but that is inevitable.
Not sure what you are alluding to specifically. I’m guessing you have an issue with the Bill and Malinda Gates Foundation. Since their focus is AIDS related they will spend a great amount of money in Africa and some will end up in dictators hands, but that is inevitable.[/quote]
I have no issues whatsoever with their foundation.
It is their money, they have every right to do with it whatever they choose.
I just wanted to point out that the “selfish” use of money can benefit more people and in better ways than “altruistic” acts of charity.
