Why be good?

[henryp]

Wallym, what of those of us who do good locally, while empathising with those who aren't local?  You seem to think "help" is only needed other than where you are locally. What about those who do good, not because it makes them feel good, but out of a sense of empathy for their fellow man?  Do you really think that's only out of a sense of "no choice but to care"?  Especially when there are people like you in the world who have made the choice not to care?

Take me, for example: I empathise with those abroad who are less fortunate; I even give money when I can to causes I think are worthwhile, and I have thought about and taken steps toward going to certain places abroad to help.  Also, I volunteer locally to help victims of sexual assault and domestic violence, along with some other, fluffier, kinds of volunteer work.  I will admit, I get satisfaction and good feeling about helping people, but when I'm helping someone who is starving or has been beaten or raped, the negative affect on my psyche more often outweighs the good feelings I have.  I have made a choice to care, obviously, if there are seemingly normal people in the world like you who simply don't.

So locally vs. abroad is important because of the evolutionary stuff (I think) Rythym has brought up.  Small 50-150 people groups.  These are the people you see daily and identify with.  And we're conditioned to care about those around us.   And while we're conditioned to care about "all" humans, it's not nearly as much as those in our City/State/Country/Demographic to care about people far away.  Just like we're told to care about animals.  But mostly Dogs and Cats, and less so Cows and Fish.

Looking at the US for example.  Most of the right side of politics doesn't want Mexicans coming into their country.  Most of the left doesn't want the US giving military aid to fight gross injustices around the world.   The key theme being that Americans >>>> Not Americans.  

I don't know you personally, so I can't really speak to any of your motivations.  But the choice issue here is: Do you think you could not care about someone who was beaten and raped?  Could you choose to be indifferent?

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You're absolutely spot on. I am my own harshest critic. All we can be sure about is everyone has this one life, so I make it my job to improve it where I can for whoever I can. Of course I could "do more", that is always the case for everyone. But it is a big factor in how I live my life and what decisions I make.

It is a little bit of a chicken and egg I guess. Helping people makes me feel good. Very good in fact. But it seems to me this is a side effect and a bonus, rather than my actual motivation. I would still help people even if it made me feel bad to do so, because I've come to a rational decision to do that action. I won't repeat my sob story, but you guys know by now about my life and how this is very much the case. So even the evolution argument doesn't work when choices get to this stage.

And really, assuming we do have free will (not trying go get into that discussion here!) we can choose to ignore this action/reward system anyway, or bypass it. We can decide not to help people, and even harm them, even if it makes us feel bad. Eventually, we adjust to our actions I think and it becomes easier and easier to maintain.

You seem to have sort of a pavlovian response to pain, which makes sense.  Given the 'can't step on bugs' type stuff and your situation, I would guess you have a compulsion to alleviate/avoid pain wherever you see it?  I would imagine you have a much stronger and deeper reaction to this sort of thing than most?