people only do what makes them happy?

Question

what do you think? i have thought about it, and there is no way around it. everyone is selfish. but i don't think it's bad, i just think it is a truth.
example-a man jumps in front of a bullet and saves another's life. selfish? yes. he still did to make himself happy.
what do you think.

allright. if you save someone or something without you safety in mind, you are not doing it because you think that person or thing deserves to live more than you, nor are you doing it because you care about them more than you, you are doing it because it makes you feel good. you are doing it for yourself. when you really start to think about it, there is no unselfish act. selfish is not bad.

Answer 1

You're right.

And you're wrong... you're under the impression that folks should live selfless lives from start to finish. Nope. People should be selfish as often as possible, as long as it doesn't interfere with the happiness of another person. Sometimes your own selfishness can add to another persons happiness.

If jumping infront of a bullet makes a man feel heroic, then yes, it's a little selfish, but who cares. If it makes you happy, then do it.

Think about it.

Answer 2

While there is a lot of truth to your philosophy, I don't think it's 'selfishness' to want to be happy. What about those people who go to the poorest places to live and work with the poorest of people, and when they come 'home' they are EXTREMELY UNHAPPY until they can 'go back' and help more people. They can't 'be happy' if they don't have money and a nice place to live and food to eat, right? If 'happy' equates to 'selfish' that is correct, but 'happiness' is not always 'selfish.' When I was a poor single mother, I wore ratty underwear and clothes from a thrift store, so my kids could dress better. I didn't buy them the 'high priced' stuff from the fancy department stores, but I did buy them better stuff because of my 'sacrifice.' I did that because it made ME 'happy' ... and I don't think that was 'selfish' ... I now can afford to buy the 'expensive' stuff, but I didn't do that for a long time, and even now I do it ONLY when I need to 'replace' something that is too worn out to wear ... and then I buy the 'best' thing I can afford because I want it to last THE REST OF MY LIFE. That actually makes me a bit 'sad' though, because I think it's selfish of me to want better stuff when there are homeless people on the street who are hungry, unwashed, and wearing rags ... I do give money (we give MORE than 10% of our income, by the way) to charities that help the homeless ... but we do that because it MAKES US HAPPY. So ... yes, we 'do what makes us happy' ... but NOT because we are 'selfish.'

Answer 3

Congratulations! You have figured out something most people take a lifetime to understand. Some people don't at all.

One cannot make a decision without greed.

Even if you decide not to decide, you have made this decision because it makes you feel better.

Let's call her Sandy can jump in front of a bullet for say Josh. This decision is labeled selfless, however..

with a closer look, the importance of Josh's life rather than Sandy's, was decided by Sandy..

not Josh.

Happiness requires trade. In order for a living organism to feel content, he or she must first perform a trade. Something as simple as breathing, you are trading nitrogen oxide to plants in order to receive oxygen and vice versa. This trade for happiness is done repeatedly until death.

Trade can range anywhere from money, objects, time, labor, or even knowledge. The one trade that is most commonly misunderstood is the trade of emotions. A person let us call her Kate says she will love and care for her boyfriend until the day she dies. She is completely happy with him and expects nothing in return. This statement is announced predicting that circumstances in his or her life will never be intense. In most cases it is not, and therefore one can misjudge that Kate cared for her boyfriend’s life until the day she died and there was absolutely no trade involved. How could this be? Only to the untrained eye.

What if he got addicted to drugs and became insane with wild imaginations, habits, and uncontrollable temper problems? What if he forced her to become a gang member? What if he forced her to do pornography with his brother Fred? What if they were separated and could never see each other ever again? What if he gets famous and falls for someone else? What if he was a serial killer? What if he became a rapist or cheater? What if his main objective in life was to destroy Kate and everyone she loved? What if he locked Kate in the basement and tortured her for many years and threatened that he would kill everyone in the family and all the people he disliked in the community. What if it was all of the above???

These are all worst case scenarios however with a closer look, it is in fact the prime scenario. Kate gave love to her boyfriend and did not trade it for money, sex, drugs, cars, fame, love or comfort. Kate without realizing at the time she announced her love, has traded that love to her boyfriend for his presence, loyalty, and sanity..

Answer 4

There are people who are selfish because they need it to be happy, and there are people who are selfless because it's what makes them happy. Does that make the individual selfish for making others happy? How can you consider it selfish to put others before yourself, even if it's what makes you happy? Selfishness is the act of seeking of self satisfaction without regard to others in any fashion, not doing something just to make yourself happy. There is a difference.

Answer 5

Well, you may think that, but I think that taking a bullet for someone is an overwhelming vote for the fact that they cared more about that other person than they did themselves. When you put someone else above your own wellbeing, how is that selfish? I don't think in that situation it would make them happy, I think in that situation all they'd be thinking was the person they care for was in danger and they had to stop it. This is a very bad example for your argument.

Answer 6

I see what you are saying. People do things to make themselves happy. But the motive of your happiness is what couns. Are you jumping infront of a bullet because you are happy you can save someones life or so that the person can thank you later on if you still live. Some people do things to make themselves happy for themselves. While some make themselves happy because they are glad that they are able to make someone else happy.

Answer 7

Happiness is a combination of short term, mid term, long term, and eternal.
Every person in the world wants to be happy, and the search for happiness unites us as human beings. But we live in a world that seems custom-made for unhappiness ­ a world riddled with disease, injustice, loss, poverty, war, death, pain, and misfortunes of every kind. Can human beings find happiness in a world like this? Many psychologists, psychiatrists, philosophers, sociologists, and other deep thinkers believe that the root of most unhappiness comes from a narrow understanding of human meaning and purpose. This article will address four different ways to interpret human meaning, called "the four levels of happiness," and it will lead to nine other articles which discuss how these interpretations of human happiness affect our understanding of success, quality of life, love, suffering, freedom, ethics, personhood, rights, and the common good.

Answer 8

No, that man is not selfish. i call that a hero.
Who would be happy to get shot????

Yes, everyone is out for their own, if u can't think of yourself 1st how can u think of others. To me, that's not really selfish.
It's call reality, is human instinct.
Like people say "if u can take care of yourself, how can u take care of others"
There are many people out there are not selfish and are willing to help others...........many people do what is right!!!
Not what make them happy.....

Answer 9

actually there are 3 kinds of people.

some people are selfish, and do things to make them happy, not caring who it hurt in the process, cause they only look out for themselves.

there are some who decide to be selfish because they think they deserve it, for whatever reason.

then, there are some who convince themselves that they're doing things for the greater good of helping others, but are really doing it for themselves, for self gratifacation.

Answer 10

yes in a way. for some people,helping others feel happy makes them happy. and some people feel good being cruel to others. i would think the people who do stuff for others are the less selfish though , because in the end ''they are putting others first''