For example, a mother can sacrifice everything for her son's benefit, even if his behavior is antisocial. As far as the relationship between mother and child is concerned, mother is selfless, but as far as the relationship between mother and child, society and others is concerned, mother is selfish.
Understanding the relativity between public and private is very important for answering the question whether selfishness is the existence of human beings or the product of human development at a certain stage.
One theory holds that people in ancient society (early and middle primitive society) were not selfish. Because the level of productivity determines that the means of production are public, * * * work together, and personal interests are always dissolved in collective interests. Individual members living in this era have no personal interests at all, and always put collective interests above personal interests. Individuals are willing to sacrifice themselves for the benefit of the collective or other members. However, thinkers and theorists who hold this theory tell people with their historical knowledge of this era that groups (clans, tribes and tribal alliances) living in this era will also have conflicts over hunting grounds and pastoral areas. That is to say, on the one hand, there is no conflict of interest between individuals in the group, on the other hand, there is conflict of interest between groups. How to explain two different phenomena?
Question: There is no "for me" interest conflict within the group, but there is a "for us" interest conflict between the groups.
Assuming that it must be "for me" (personal) interests to be called "selfish", "for us" (group) interests can not be called selfish, or can only be called "selfless". Can't individual members of fascist groups in modern society sacrifice their lives for the benefit of the group be called selfish (such as kamikaze players in Japan)? Or should we call them selfless people?
The above phenomenon can be well explained by the relativity between public and private. As far as the interest relationship between individuals and groups is concerned, it is selfless to sacrifice oneself for the benefit of groups. According to the interests of individuals, groups and groups, this kind of personal behavior is selfish.
Not only "for me" is selfish, "for us" can also be selfish.
It is precisely because of this that we can use the concepts of "group self-interest" and "national self-interest".
If the above analysis holds, then, even if there is no personal self-interest and no conflict of interest in ancient groups (this issue will be discussed later), only from the perspective of conflicts of interest between groups, public and private are ancient, not the product of a certain stage of development. This word is a literary term and a derogatory term. When used in literary works, it can well interpret a character's personality characteristics. You ask this question, just like asking why people are selfish. But from the perspective of biology, physiology and sociology, the so-called "selfish desire" is actually people's self-satisfaction. Man is one of the living things, and living things need supplies to maintain their lives. This is the simplest way to eat, drink and scatter. As far as an independent person is concerned (assuming that he is the only one in the world), if a person wants to survive, he must get food from nature to satisfy his diet. This is the original desire and the most primitive expression of selfish desire. Therefore, the original motive of "selfish desire" comes from the need of survival.
When two people form a team, it is more powerful for getting food. At this time, there will be two situations, 1, and the two have always been very United. When they get food, they share it equally and maintain a good team relationship. 2, two people are very United when they are preying, but when they are distributed, someone will always cheat and secretly give themselves more. (There will be two situations at this time. One is that the other party is completely ignorant, thinks that they get as much as the other party, or knows that they can accept or tolerate it, so the team relationship will be maintained. The other is that he knows that the distribution is uneven, and two people turn against each other and even fight with each other. )。 This shows that selfish desires can lead to some bad results. People's personalities are diverse and their emotions are very complicated. In the face of selfish desires, some people will struggle, some will tolerate, some will accept, some will be greedy and go to the point of no return, and some will cultivate their own self-cultivation, be independent and constantly overcome their desires.
In fact, in the animal world, animals will kill each other for a piece of food, but sometimes we will see a group of carnivores sharing a delicious meal together.
Selfishness comes from people meeting the simplest needs of survival, which is human nature and should be treated correctly. The key is how to grasp your own desires and not let yourself be controlled by them. Selfishness expands infinitely and will eventually go to destruction. The wall stands a thousand miles, and it is just without desire. To get rid of selfish desires and distractions, we must first establish a correct outlook on life, improve the realm of life, and set lofty ideal goals. After all, internal factors are the root of things. Then, efforts should be made to improve the external environment, for example, to make some friends, relatives and ministers, and people far away. Of course, changing the mentality is the most critical. Don't have too many unrealistic fantasies, don't pay too much attention to fame and fortune, and don't covet debauchery. Only by putting a correct attitude can we eliminate our own selfish desires and distractions.