Understanding the Philosophy of Human Interaction

Especially today, as the internet connects almost everyone, all human actions are affected by and affect others. There are no actions that exist separately from the actions of other people. Because of this, a certain degree of free will is lost, as the actions of others are uncontrollable. As well as the actions of others, the wants and needs of a person have the largest effect on the decisions that people make. Many of these needs are biological, which give more evidence that really, our actions are not our own and are instead determined by internal, but natural forces such as hormones, hunger, thirst, etc. The others, which seemingly are rational wants, are actually the product of the dopamine hunger which we are constantly seeking1 or of an attempt to avoid negative emotions2. With the chemical needs of our brain and the influence of others, there is no choice in our actions left to us.

When you think about how everyone makes decisions with the well-being of themselves at the forefront of their mind, it seems impossible that our civilized society could have been created and makes human interaction seem bleak and hopeless. But, if we accept this natural self-interest, some of the greatest acts of what is commonly known as ‘selflessness’ become possible. Something which we should be grateful for is that making others happy makes most people happy3. And this beautiful truth is the reason behind all of the compassionate acts which are meant to benefit others. Although true ‘selflessness’ is impossible, there is no need to crumble in despair when confronted with this truth. It may seem morally wrong for self-interest to be the motive for helping others; however, it can inspire an attempt to make another person happy. When this truth is acknowledged by a person, it can encourage them to try to make others happy more often, as they know they can receive pleasure from it. Helping others is not a sacrifice, but becomes a win-win when it is thought about in this way. Instead of arguing that a civilized society is impossible if all actions are based solely on the benefit of the individual, we should consider that maybe our society only works because of self interest. 

For example, philanthropy is encouraged greatly by the taxation system of the United States4, and along with the fact that charity usually feels good to participate in, it is clear that not all self-interest has a negative outcome.

Because of our biological and evolutionary needs, humans will always act in self-interest. This has the potential to cause distress and sadness in some people, but it is important to be able to recognize this fact in a way which will benefit you and others around you, leading to greater understanding of how we interact with one another.

1: “As humans, our brains are hard-wired to seek out behaviors that release dopamine”

my.clevelandclinic.org 

2: “Research on desired emotions revealed that individuals want to feel negative emotions if they expect these emotions to yield certain benefits. In previous studies, the pursuit of sadness … has been attributed to … feel pleasure. We propose that in individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) the pursuit of sadness may be more strongly related to self-verification motives…”

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

3: “‘Trying to make others happy is a better way to one's own happiness, even more than when others try to make us happy,’ psychologists Liudmila Titova and Kennon Sheldon conclude. In other words, happiness is an import-export business.”

forge.medium.com

4: “The tax laws in many states encourage individuals to give to charitable organizations”

www.councilofnonprofits.org