Shop Pura Vida Bracelets, hand made by local artisans!- 10% of profits go to respective charities!
Do you remember that Friends episode where Phoebe and Joey are in a philosophical standoff? The question at hand- is really such thing as a selfless good deed?
This episode, although comedic in nature, provided me with philosophical questions I later spent time pondering over.
Is there really such thing as a selfless good deed?
In the episode Joey makes a few surprisingly valid arguments, much to Phoebe’s dismay. To summarize, Joey argues that
- Doing selfless things for others makes us feel good, therefore actually making these “selfless” acts selfish
- The reason we help others is to make ourselves feel better about ourselves
- All humans are innately selfish
Under the premise that all humans are innately selfish, it can be deduced that all human actions are motivated by self-interest.
The episode chronicles Phoebe’s attempts to discredit Joey’s claim.
- Allows a bee to sting her, inflicting pain on herself so that the bee can “look tough in front of his bee friends” (this is why I love Phoebe)
- Joey informs her that the bee likely died after stinging her (which isn’t necessarily true- don’t trust Joey for facts), nullifying her so called good deed
Why does it feel good to do good? And is following through with good deeds in order to feel good actually selfish?
I think that it feels good to do good because we were made to do good! (Is good starting to feel like a weird word to y’all now!?)
When we do something for the betterment of others, it indirectly contributes to the betterment of ourselves.
[bctt tweet=”When we do something for the betterment of others, it indirectly contributes to the betterment of ourselves. ” username=”soulfulseedblog”]
I believe our ethical and moral compass, which is inclined towards God, is what makes us try to pursue good. Doing good feels good because it is incentive for us to keep doing good! God wants us to enjoy helping others so that we can continue doing so throughout our life.
Basically, I think that seeking an answer to this question is pointless. In the end does it really even matter what is selfish or selfless? As long as it is helping others, why should we question it?
I’m so interested to hear y’all’s take on this. What is your opinion?