The idea that selfishness can contribute to the rise and maintenance of a cooperative society is a long-standing topic of political philosophy. At the beginning of the 18th century, in an essay called "The Fable of the Bees," Dutch-born English doctor and philosopher Bernard Mandeville maintained that "private vice" rather than "virtue" was really at the root of all "publick benefit." Morality and the public welfare, he reasoned, were based purely on the egoism of the individual. Further, if each member of society pursued his own best interests consistently, the greatest possible good would result. Mandeville concluded that government would collapse if egoism ceased to motivate our actions.
In an era when ecclesiastical authority imposed religious values, philosophers vociferously rejected Mandeville's ideas. But similar notions were put forth over the subsequent three centuries. Charles Darwin's 1859 On the Origin of Species posited that any organism that is less than completely engaged in the struggle for food, sex and territory lessens its chances of passing on its characteristics to offspring. In 1874 Darwin wrote that a tribe that collaborated "would be victorious over most other tribes; and this would be natural selection." Nineteenth-century economists and social scientists constructed a theory of Homo economicus, according to which Homo sapiens strive exclusively to maximize their own advantage.
In 1976 British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins reopened the public discussion dramatically with his best-seller The Selfish Gene. He argued that molecular genetic material uses its host--whether it is an amoeba, hippopotamus or human--as a "vehicle" to maximize its own propagation. "We are survival machines--robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes," Dawkins wrote.
Following those precepts, altruism becomes a form of disguised egoism. Philanthropy is less the expression of a love of humankind than of the cool calculation of the entrepreneur who seeks to ensure future profit by clever public relations. For example, according to the sociobiology theory of reciprocal altruism, people are most likely to help one another if frequent contact is expected in the future: "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine." The giver assumes that his generosity will be reciprocated at a later date. Reputation theory, which explains another form of altruism that results in personal gain, proceeds from the assumption that it is generally advantageous to establish a reputation for benevolence and impartiality through the use of well-targeted good deeds. The result is to enhance one's image and improve the potential for long-term profits. Homo geneticus is closely allied with Homo economicus.
Related;
Crime and Punishment: Why Do We Conform to Society?
No comments:
Post a Comment