What is the motivation for helping?

Question

Imagine a utopian world in which all people are happy and healthy & hav satisfying relationships. There is neither illness nor death. Because everyone is satisfied, healthy and happy, there is no social disorder and no need for any helping profession: no police, doctors, nurses, lawyers or socila workers. Neither is there need for moral discernment. Now imagine the social disorder that would follow the introduction of serious disease. Individuals who become ill are unable to care for themselves and to meet their own basic needs.
>How does society deal with this problem?

Answer 1

The motivation for helping comes through the troubles and problems of others. That is how our world became what it is now. Learning comes through our problems and with no problems, the so called "utopian world" will only be filled with lifeless dolls, since the knowledge we have now has only evolved through trial and error.

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” –Albert Einstein

Answer 2

Okay, very interesting scenario.

I'd assume that if such a society were, in fact, as advanced in infrastructure and technology as we are today that it wouldn't be much of an issue. After all, just because those professions aren't NEEDED, doesn't mean that certain academic figures and Jeopardy champions won't already have avid knowledge in those fields, so that part of the case is solved. In light of such a crisis, despite not having to, people will still KNOW what to do.

Now, the motivation to help is simple. My philosophy is that there are three means to an end: love, war, and trade. Love roughly equates to simple cooperation with another to achieve the same end, even if it's for different reasons. War is just enforceable coercion and trade is the exchange of skills and resources for the achievement of different ends. Societies' existence is based entirely on this formula. If it weren't, we'd be very solitary creatures and not near as social.

So in your given scenario, the rich would seek out the few doctors (or professionals with the knowledge of doctors) there are through trade (because of their wealth). Families, friends and loved ones of said doctors would receive free health care out of love and cooperation. And, finally, the poor unsociable caste would have to revolt and use force to get the much needed care.

Now, the rich class, in the midst of this sudden uprise of violence are going to seek out the profession of police-like contractors so that they may protect them and their assets from disease-ridden rebels. The academic groups would probably congregate and setup some sort of court or tribunal system to uphold justice. This would, in effect, create another new profession of law-upholding agents (lawyers).

Basically, no matter how utopian the society, it'll inevitably revert back to square one.

Answer 3

What your utopia describes is what the religious call heaven. It wont work because the citizens would die of boredom. The religious might (probably would) say, "you won't get bored because you would be spending all your time blissfully adoring HIM!" I doubt there is that much adoration in a human animal. Yet some humans come close. We are all dependent on these. Every human has been helped by them.

I'm speaking of the mothers of the world. Selfless helping of their infants is an instinct like behavior called "mother love". Infants are little imitators for the most part so they imitate their parents (including their mothers) to develop a behavior of helping and caring for others. Their success at this behavior depends on a lot of things and is developed in them to differing degrees.

Whether the motivation to care for their infants in human females is truly an inherited instinct is not known but I for one think it is because it is so all pervasive.

We owe most of our motivation to care and help one another to our mothers. If there is reproduction there, there would be mother love in this utopia and there would be no problem.

Most of the people of the world get along passably well; if it were not so there would be universal chaos. We do not give enough credit to mothers of the world for this fact.

Answer 4

I just couldn't relate the topic question to the scenario given. So allow me to answer them separately.

For the topic question, I'd say ..for self elation

For the scenario...I'd say we do nothing and just let it happen...cause if everybody never dies...where would we live, under the ocean? So, the introduction of serious disease would have to take place or we will have to start growing gills and become mermaids..or mermen

Answer 5

a utopian society would be prepared for such an outcome
the need to live a worthy life is the desire to be good and this is the rational means of a better life for all concerned .

Answer 6

Even when we discuss the coming of the KINGDOM OF YAHWEH, ther will still need to b people trained n the keeping positons, health, nutrition, sanitation, ect.. We couldn't exist without these offices being filled in normal society.

Answer 7

They die, as a person and as a civilization