noThing Much SeriousLy...
Heya, I’m back after a pretty bad week of flu vs. fever vs. cough vs. COC parade rehearsal (ie. Drill, and the crap RSM is having more drills the coming week like around 3 hours for 4 out of 5 days!). But for some interesting reason I don’t find the week that bad… And I got quite a few comics from Qinyao so I will be occupied for a really long time…
Anyway, I want to talk briefly about self-interest Vs. selfishness. From my short conversation with my friend, there are people who think that they are the same. But are they? Now, according to the dictionary, self-interest refers to "Private interest; the interest or advantage of one's self" while selfish is "Caring supremely or unduly for one's self; regarding one's own comfort, advantage, etc., in disregard, or at the expense, of those of others". If you were to examine the 2 definitions, there’s like not much different except that selfishness has a lot more negative connotations.
Now, I tend to disagree with the linguistic view. Having read up on so much Economics, I am of the opinion that self interest is actually a neutral term which just aptly describes human behaviour while selfishness is actually a negative term that describes people in a real bad light. Why? Cause self interest is private interest that means that you are concerned with your own personal interests and desires. And I think it is perfectly normal that people act according to their self-interest. Even altruism is a form of self-interest. For example, it is out of one’s self-interest that he or she actually helps others. Confusing? In fact it is logical because I help somebody because helping that somebody I feel happier. Isn’t that acting out of your self-interest?
And it is this belief of self-interest (or description?) that drives the world. The basis of the economists’ market mechanism is self-interest. Because people act in their own interest and for their own gains, you actually get a very good allocation of resources that is good for society as well.
What about selfishness? I consider it to be acting in such a manner that you actually create undesirable outcomes for the people around you. People actually dislike your actions and behaviour. People don’t want it and they want you to change. So selfish acts are socially undesirable and they are bad for society.
Now I hope I’ve shown my argument that selfishness is bad while self-interest is neutral. Hopefully it’s a new perspective which helps you to see certain things in another angle.
Anyway, for those of you who read this, I'm sure you can tell that my writing is totally pathetic, at least for this week's post. That's because I'm running low on inspiration!!! SO please, give me some comments so that I can at least attempt to argue on...
Anyway, I want to talk briefly about self-interest Vs. selfishness. From my short conversation with my friend, there are people who think that they are the same. But are they? Now, according to the dictionary, self-interest refers to "Private interest; the interest or advantage of one's self" while selfish is "Caring supremely or unduly for one's self; regarding one's own comfort, advantage, etc., in disregard, or at the expense, of those of others". If you were to examine the 2 definitions, there’s like not much different except that selfishness has a lot more negative connotations.
Now, I tend to disagree with the linguistic view. Having read up on so much Economics, I am of the opinion that self interest is actually a neutral term which just aptly describes human behaviour while selfishness is actually a negative term that describes people in a real bad light. Why? Cause self interest is private interest that means that you are concerned with your own personal interests and desires. And I think it is perfectly normal that people act according to their self-interest. Even altruism is a form of self-interest. For example, it is out of one’s self-interest that he or she actually helps others. Confusing? In fact it is logical because I help somebody because helping that somebody I feel happier. Isn’t that acting out of your self-interest?
And it is this belief of self-interest (or description?) that drives the world. The basis of the economists’ market mechanism is self-interest. Because people act in their own interest and for their own gains, you actually get a very good allocation of resources that is good for society as well.
What about selfishness? I consider it to be acting in such a manner that you actually create undesirable outcomes for the people around you. People actually dislike your actions and behaviour. People don’t want it and they want you to change. So selfish acts are socially undesirable and they are bad for society.
Now I hope I’ve shown my argument that selfishness is bad while self-interest is neutral. Hopefully it’s a new perspective which helps you to see certain things in another angle.
Anyway, for those of you who read this, I'm sure you can tell that my writing is totally pathetic, at least for this week's post. That's because I'm running low on inspiration!!! SO please, give me some comments so that I can at least attempt to argue on...
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