I've held this view on human behavior for years now, and the people who I attempt to convey it to usually label me as a stark pessimistic; however, I've never had anyone tell me I'm wrong after explaining it thoroughly. I label this human behavioral concept: Benefitionalism.
The primary principals of Benefitionalism:
There is no such thing as an organic doing a selfless act: The main idea around that statement is that we so everything for our own benefit, be it emotional or physical. Let me give an example: Someone's grandparent is on their death bed in a hospital. This individual goes to console them in their last days as what many would label as a kind, and maybe even selfless act. What does this individual give to his grandparent and what does he take? He gives console, but that console never reaches his grandfather, and this idea will be explained in another principle further on. The individual takes everything from the situation surrounding his grandfather, be it emotional or physical. While the individual stays with the grandparent, he/she maintains a constant emotional benefit throughout. This emotional benefit could stem from societal norms which would dictate it is a great deed to do this for someone on their death bed, or possibly it was due to other people doing it and the individual wanted to fit in. In any case, their is no such thing selfless act.
Subsection to this principle: Emotional benefit may be perceivable in the future, that "hope" (which is an emotional benefit, but inconsistent) can drive someone to perform actions for prolonged periods of time before gaining a constant emotional stimuli from it.
Regret: The thought tree related to regret is never a negative benefit. This may come as a surprise to some people, but let me fully describe what I'm saying. We will be going back to the previous scenario for an example, but with major changes. The individual chooses not to go out of his way to console their grandparent, and after some time the individual starts feeling major regret(s) for that decision. He starts feeling depression, anxiety, self-hatred, etc. I'll go over why these feelings are in no way negative in another principle in the future. I'll go as far as saying someone who commits suicide is not doing so because of feeling negative, no, simply because they have a skewed, or rational (very subjective) view which equates that to a positive definitional decision, that will lead to a emotional benefit during or before the process of death.
The Take Give Give Take Principle: Organics only take from circumstances, and the give never reaches the other participant(s)
Human <-- Takes / Gives --> = <-- Gives / Takes --> Human
The gives can be thought of as heat released in a reaction.
How negatives are always positively "charged" principle: If an individual experiences depression, due to the consensus of our society that is inherently negative. If you follow a moral absolutes view, than yeah, it may be. If you follow a logical, rational moral nihilistic view. (Which proposes there are no natural right or wrongs, such things are created) than what I'm about to say makes sense. Also, remember the point of this Benefitionalism is to view an individual, and align his moral compass to the rational of his actions, or how he benefits. The depression would cause a person to either seek help, obtain a mental illness, deal with it, or end it. In any case the individuals subconscious has rationalized any of those decisions are the most rational, thus the most positive emotional, thus beneficial.
There is no such thing as free will principle: We are organic machines, identical to a computer, but different in objective. The freedom of choice you feel you have is illusory. Free will is based simply on the surrounding variables your brain has perceived through its various senses, and a rationalization of how you can benefit from them.
The subjective principle: Simply said: positives and negatives are subjectively perceived, but the actions of an individual were and always have been for their own benefit. An example: A cheater isn't sorry until their caught, it's a mechanism to combat possible deficit it positive physical or emotional gain.
That's all for now. I have notebooks full of this stuff, but this is the TL;DR version.
Discuss, Debate, Critique, Thanks.
The primary principals of Benefitionalism:
There is no such thing as an organic doing a selfless act: The main idea around that statement is that we so everything for our own benefit, be it emotional or physical. Let me give an example: Someone's grandparent is on their death bed in a hospital. This individual goes to console them in their last days as what many would label as a kind, and maybe even selfless act. What does this individual give to his grandparent and what does he take? He gives console, but that console never reaches his grandfather, and this idea will be explained in another principle further on. The individual takes everything from the situation surrounding his grandfather, be it emotional or physical. While the individual stays with the grandparent, he/she maintains a constant emotional benefit throughout. This emotional benefit could stem from societal norms which would dictate it is a great deed to do this for someone on their death bed, or possibly it was due to other people doing it and the individual wanted to fit in. In any case, their is no such thing selfless act.
Subsection to this principle: Emotional benefit may be perceivable in the future, that "hope" (which is an emotional benefit, but inconsistent) can drive someone to perform actions for prolonged periods of time before gaining a constant emotional stimuli from it.
Regret: The thought tree related to regret is never a negative benefit. This may come as a surprise to some people, but let me fully describe what I'm saying. We will be going back to the previous scenario for an example, but with major changes. The individual chooses not to go out of his way to console their grandparent, and after some time the individual starts feeling major regret(s) for that decision. He starts feeling depression, anxiety, self-hatred, etc. I'll go over why these feelings are in no way negative in another principle in the future. I'll go as far as saying someone who commits suicide is not doing so because of feeling negative, no, simply because they have a skewed, or rational (very subjective) view which equates that to a positive definitional decision, that will lead to a emotional benefit during or before the process of death.
The Take Give Give Take Principle: Organics only take from circumstances, and the give never reaches the other participant(s)
Human <-- Takes / Gives --> = <-- Gives / Takes --> Human
The gives can be thought of as heat released in a reaction.
How negatives are always positively "charged" principle: If an individual experiences depression, due to the consensus of our society that is inherently negative. If you follow a moral absolutes view, than yeah, it may be. If you follow a logical, rational moral nihilistic view. (Which proposes there are no natural right or wrongs, such things are created) than what I'm about to say makes sense. Also, remember the point of this Benefitionalism is to view an individual, and align his moral compass to the rational of his actions, or how he benefits. The depression would cause a person to either seek help, obtain a mental illness, deal with it, or end it. In any case the individuals subconscious has rationalized any of those decisions are the most rational, thus the most positive emotional, thus beneficial.
There is no such thing as free will principle: We are organic machines, identical to a computer, but different in objective. The freedom of choice you feel you have is illusory. Free will is based simply on the surrounding variables your brain has perceived through its various senses, and a rationalization of how you can benefit from them.
The subjective principle: Simply said: positives and negatives are subjectively perceived, but the actions of an individual were and always have been for their own benefit. An example: A cheater isn't sorry until their caught, it's a mechanism to combat possible deficit it positive physical or emotional gain.
That's all for now. I have notebooks full of this stuff, but this is the TL;DR version.
Discuss, Debate, Critique, Thanks.
