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To: higgmeister
Well you make a good defense of the claim that all actions are self serving. I just see one tiny little flaw with it. You assert that a person can do something generous, like build a school, because they want to feel proud and receive praise.

But in the case of anonymous contributions (quite common) there is no praise to be had. That leaves your assertion that the person wants to feel good. But we can never prove what all people want, nor what they feel, when they perform any given action. You must fill that point in with your assertions as to what they feel.

And that is the flaw in your defense, you can only assert what the person feels when giving, but you can never prove what they feel, because each person's feelings are their own.

Nothing makes it impossible for a person to give, or sacrifice, with no feelings of personal gain whatsoever.

So we cannot say that all actions are self serving, because we could not demonstrate that assertion. Just as you can't prove a negative, so you cannot claim to attest to what all people are feeling in all things they do. It can't be demonstrated, therefore it can't be claimed.
95 posted on 04/11/2006 9:30:01 PM PDT by starbase (Understanding Written Propaganda (click "starbase" to learn 22 manipulating tricks!!))
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To: starbase
But in the case of anonymous contributions (quite common) there is no praise to be had

But the person still feels proud of himself.

How many heros have you heard that said, "I just had to do it, if I hadn't I wouldn't have been able to live with myself?"

96 posted on 04/11/2006 9:34:38 PM PDT by higgmeister (In the Shadow of The Big Chicken.)
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To: starbase
Nothing makes it impossible for a person to give, or sacrifice, with no feelings of personal gain whatsoever.

I can't agree. If they don't feel good about giving they don't give.

If they do it for a tax break with no good feeling, the selfish motive is to reduce their tax burden.

Inside anything anyone does there is a self serving motivation.

97 posted on 04/11/2006 9:38:39 PM PDT by higgmeister (In the Shadow of The Big Chicken.)
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