Selfish Human Nature and the Irony of Life
Exploring why humans are naturally selfish and the presence of irony in our lives.
Thomas Hobbes, among his many views, believed that the natural state of mankind is a state of war. This war is where all forms of life stay in a state of “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”( Hobbes, Leviathan, i. xiii. 9). He continued, deeming that, societies (he called them common powers) have been created as a way to limit and stop these desires entirely. Concluding, that as a result of society’s limiting actions, we reside in a state of peace, which is the only way for us to prosper as a species.
I find that Hobbes was right in saying there are universal principles (for instance, Human Nature) that govern our lives. He identified selfishness as one of these principles, saying “Man is not naturally good, but a selfish hedonist”. However, Hobbes erroneously concluded that societies with a common power effectively create peace and allow for humans to flourish.
There’s a level of irony in saying that society prevents being in a state of war, and that war keeps us from flourishing. To come to such a conclusion today, you would have to overlook the centuries of historical precedent connecting technological innovation and inter-societal wars.
This leads me to the two characteristics that I believe are fundamental to any human being: selfishness and irony.
Human Nature can be defined as the underlying motives which are seen in each and every human. While I agree with Hobbes that humans are naturally selfish, I have a different reason; I believe there are three ways one can live ones life — all of which reach the same conclusion.
The first way to live one’s life is solely for themself. This is commonly seen in the pursuit of financial independence, mental liberation, and/or survival. The pursuit of these liberations is inherently selfish because the end goal is to fulfill one’s own desires, from which the pursuits originated.
The second way an individual can live their life is the pursuit of giving others fulfillment in their respective lives. This approach is slightly more counterintuitive. Say someone dedicates their life to giving others happiness or helping those less fortunate, even at their own expense.
Ultimately, doing so is ultimately their own choice regardless of whether it creates fulfillment or satisfies guilt, or because of obligations to their parents. Both paths are fundamentally fulfilling a rationale to do something for one’s own benefit, in other words, selfish.
The final way a person can live their life is by choosing an intermediate approach. This, however, is just as selfish. To be torn between living for oneself or someone else is to be stuck in a paradoxical dilemma, that is to say, both are inherently selfish. The only clear way to avoid being selfish is to have no desires. That’s not to accuse everyone of being selfish, but rather, to say that there is no alternative; humans, as conscious beings, are innately selfish.
Something people often overlook is that for every action there is a far greater forfeit of actions. For every action that we take, there are an infinite number of other actions we could have taken instead.
People often try to justify their actions — try to innovate some sort of scenario where they aren’t selfish. Let’s take something commonly viewed as selfless — giving to charity. Last year, a lot more of my money would go to bake sales in school, supporting various clubs and the Student Union, etc. The truth is, my money could really go anywhere else; it could have at least triple the impact if I had donated it to any number of non-profit organizations, or have virtually no impact if I had spent an extra $2 on candy after school.
Naturally, this begs the question, what would the most effective use of our resources be? What would have the most impact? In reality, there is no way of getting that answer — it’s a task that’s virtually impossible. That leaves us to choose between what we have available to us, or what’s most accessible. In my circumstance, what’s most accessible would be giving to my school through bake sales, or giving money to the homeless, and so that’s what I do. To take the easy path, not finding where you would have the most impact is, once again, selfish.
In addition to human nature, there are underlying themes to life, notably, that life is ironic.
When referring to hunter-gatherer societies, Hobbes’s arguments make sense; societies with a common power were created as a way to disperse tasks, improving life for everyone. It is also safe to say that most people would agree with that — war is bad, society and welfare do have a positive impact on our societies, and governments certainly achieve things that we wouldn’t be able to do without them.
However, it is important to acknowledge there is evidence on the contrary as well: it seems like societies repeatedly wage war between themselves. A group with a common power (aka. society) in its most broad definition, implies any group of people with leadership.
This theory falls, because, these groups of people, however you define them, have never achieved a period of time with absolute peace. Groups have always been in conflicts with one another, and it is extremely likely to remain that way.
Additionally, to say that peace is the only way for us to prosper as a species would be an oversight. This theory overlooks the countless discoveries and technological advancements that have come as a result of war — GPS, landing people on the moon, Air Traffic Control, mobile x-ray machines, and even sanitary napkins and the huge economic boosts that the US gained from selling arms and materials to Europe during World War 1. This exhibits the irony of people's thinking.
Naturally, we feel like war is bad because it leads to the loss of life, and I agree. But it is important to acknowledge, it is one of the biggest drivers of evolutionary change. That is the irony of our lives.
Bizarreness is what I think makes life interesting. In my free time, I’ll sometimes listen to Alan Watts (among other philosophers). Watts, often in his various speeches says,
“Everyman should consider, at least once in their life, what would it be like to go to sleep and never wake up?”.
When you consider that question, you start to realize the mistakes you’re making in the present. You start to see the people in your life who are dragging you away from your goals, and you start to realize how much time you’re spending without being intentional.
I find that so much of my life is drowned out by school assigned busywork. With the Internet, school’s rigor of cramming information across a variety of subjects isn’t nearly as important as it’s made out to be. We waste excessive amounts of time memorizing things we can google in a matter of seconds.
Knowledge is no longer as scarce as it once was, and so the importance of instilling dense amounts of information in this short period has diminished. I’m chasing my goals in a system that is optimized for the wrong goals — that is the irony of my life.
When analyzing the various themes of our life, we have more in common than we think. I find that the best way to approach how we change our behavior based on scenarios is to look at the aspects of our lives that remain consistent throughout them.
In exploring human nature, we find that selfishness is something in all of us, and so it is best that we chose to understand what drives us instead of what the implications are since the implications are always selfish.
When we approach themes of our lives, acknowledging the sense of irony, we can opt into seeing the hardships of our lives more comically, but also find similar themes of irrationality in the worlds that surround us. The truth is, nothing is definitive in our lives, but the patterns that define it, are as close to the truth as you can get. I encourage you to dive deeper into your own lives and see if you can find other hidden truths that govern our lives, especially those which we aren’t typically aware of.
But then again, I’m just a naive 15 year old.
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Hey everyone, Thanks for reading this far! If you enjoyed the article comment below and let me know what you think — I’d love to hear a new perspective.
My name is Satvik. I’m a 15-year-old Innovator at The Knowledge Society. I currently attend Stuyvesant High School in New York City and have an avid interest in the rise of new technologies, debate, philosophical ideas, and understanding people’s perspectives. Recreational things I enjoy are spending time in the outdoors and photography. Feel free to contact me on any of the platforms below.
Email: satvikagnihotri12@gmail.com
