- Nov 2024
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willruddick.substack.com willruddick.substack.com
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The notion of pure altruism attempts to create a dichotomy between the self and others, implying that true selflessness is possible. Yet, in reality, individuals exist within a web of relationships and mutual dependencies.
for - adjacency - pure altruism - selflessness - self / other dualism - individual / collective gestalt - Deep Humanity - biological limitations - evolutionary limitations
adjacency - between - pure altruism - selflessness - self / other dualism - individual / collective gestalt - Deep Humanity - biological limitations - evolutionary limitations - adjacency relationship - From an evolutionary and biological perspective, - the individual organism is district from other organisms and the environment - The individual is defined by a separating boundary and it must exchange energy and materials with it's environment as a necessary condition of survival. It must - receive and input nutrients inputs and - transmit, output and eliminate waste byproducts - The word 'selfless' is a polar abstraction. No individual can be 100% selfless or it would be an act of self-annihilation, a self-destructive act of denying 100% of all inputs necessary for its own survival - Existing as a living, individual organism requires some degree of individual self care - At the same time, the process of sexual reproduction, - in contrast to asexual reproduction - involves two organisms with sperm and egg, and is inherently social - In multi cellular organisms with highly complex social behaviours - such as our species - there is a strong learned component of concern for other as well - Pure selflessness is as rare as pure selfishness - Most of us have degrees of self care and degrees of care for others - Self and other are intertwingled, hence the Deep Humanity terms: - individual / collective gestalt - self / other gestalt
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- Apr 2020
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www.gutenberg.org www.gutenberg.org
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There was a special companionship in it, an observable inclination on the part of every one to join some other one
although they may have been in need of the wine, they were nice enough to not be too greedy and take it all for themselves
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