Can selfish people be altruistic?

2008-09-20T03:43:10Z

I cant add clues because i want to know this thought all the way from the fartherest subconscious reaches of your mind. I wnat to know your delusions not be placated with whimsy.

2008-09-20T23:41:14Z

Do you people have no thought of your own? What are you a bunch of clones. Every answer so far is the same as the one before, and all incorrect. Why do they all begin as a positive and then turn into a negative? Is this not a another sign of a lack of depth in perception?

Sabrina Q2008-09-20T06:30:29Z

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well.. humans are selfish... but of course to a certain extent that is.. it actually depends on how selfish the people can be, are they extremely selfish? or just naturally (everyone is!) selfish.. if they are the extremely selfish type of a person, like one of my friends, they only think about their own benefits and privileges, which is bad. so i assume that to be un-altruistic.

Leafbook (Elizabeth Isabelle)2008-09-20T13:52:13Z

Sure. It's tough to be a cretin all the time...

Humans are genetically designed as social creatures, so even if someone is selfish they can "slip up" and do something nice for someone else just because they felt like it. This does not mean that the worst of the selfish people might not later consider it to be a debt they are owed, and try to collect on it. That, though, does not mean that at the very moment that they did something altruistic that it was not pure in that very moment.

Anonymous2008-09-20T09:58:14Z

I'm pretty selfish, but I know that if I won the lottery I would give a ton of it away to worthy causes. Maybe it depends on the kind of selfish you mean. When I say I'm selfish, I mean that I'm emotionally selfish, not really materially selfish. If that makes sense.

How stupid are you? You said you want us to think about this from the "fartherest" reaches of our mind (whatever the hell fartherest means) and yet you say we're incorrect. How is that possible? Think about THAT from the fartherest subconscious reaches of your pea brain.

Chels2008-09-21T22:29:26Z

How could a selfish person be altruistic? The very nature of a selfish person is to act purely for his or her sake without regard for other people. While to be altruistic means that one is devoted to the welfare of others even when it is a disadvantage to his or her self. A person can not be both if he or she is being completely honest.

Anonymous2008-09-20T10:13:23Z

Yes, if you change the meaning of altruistic slightly.

Many people appear to be altruistic, when they're actually giving money or something away to gain popularity or bolster their ego. It is rare to find someone truly altruistic, ie someone who gives money away after winning lotto and not going out of their way to tell people about it.

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