Some form of self-interest governs most affairs of the world these days, in that one as an individual or a representative of some sort is always looking to ways of advancement and progress or simply benefits that will in turn benefit themselves. Indeed all negotiations and diplomatic affairs are compounded by the political climates, with each nation looking out for their safety or profit. The only form of agreement is that of compromise in which everyone benefits. This mutual gain reflects the same course as the supposedly selfless act.
However, is it possible to achieve a selfless act? Even when purposefully striving towards such a goal the very logic which dictates that in completion one will have succeeded and therefore feel a sense of accomplishment negates the result or rather immediately contradicts the purpose. Acts of selflessness are generally considered as beneficial to others. With this we must then question the intent of the action and also the effects of the action. Firstly, doing good for others, for example helping a blind person to cross the road. The motive is usually something as simple as ‘it is a good thing to do’, a good deed. The effects are that the person has crossed the road safely and would normally appreciate the gesture possibly even making him feel good, yet in pleasing someone else you have subconsciously made yourself feel good in some way, whether that was the initial motive or not. However the motive is not irrelevant since it could be argued that an action to help someone else rather than an action to make your self feel good is selfless, and the by-product (the good feeling) is irrelevant to the action since it wasn’t the immediate aim. In contrast to this is the example of a police officer helping a blind man across the road, only because it is his duty and so is not genuinely selfless.
Religiously, one might say that any good deed performed regardless of motive or effects results in a path to heaven where all will be rewarded and so undermines the selflessness of the actions, with the motive and result becoming synonymous.
Though we seem to treat the words ‘selfish’ and ‘selfless’ as opposites the philosophical reality is that they are extremely similar if not the same. They are simply labels of language used to convey a particular perspective on a situation. Therefore for the one situation as mundane as the blind man crossing the road, there is the one perspective of selflessness, which states that you are helping the man who is grateful and has benefited from your actions, yet on the other hand there is the perspective of selfishness, which states that you are helping the man to fell good about yourself. Similarly, C. S. Lewis once noted that the 20th century has substituted negative virtues for positive ones. As an example, he contrasted selflessness with love. Selflessness is a denial of your self, he said, and while love might include self-denial, it was focused not on the negation of the self but on the happiness of the other.
In the defense of selflessness, we have only to look at the camaraderie between people as they unite in struggle, bring forth revolutions and endure wars. Throughout the wars there have been countless accounts of men and women who gave their lives to save others. This in itself seems selfless yet again the feelings and resultant affects undermine the notion. Due to differing circumstances it is questionable as to whether or not the person would gain the catharsis of doing good for someone else but it seems that the repercussions of the action seem to be consistent in the way that it is appreciated and the person is honored or greatly praised and admired. Though this diminishes Richard Dawkins’ theory of the ‘selfish gene’ it fails to establish the possible capacity for a selfless action.
Selfless acts are unattainable paradoxes, since everything one does benefits one’s self in some form or other, because society has heralded the selfless act of charity and rewards it with high esteem therefore turning it into an almost material self-gaining process. Language it seems has created a contradiction in terms through the impact of other perceptional variables on the world and the human mind. It is the wealth of different views and perspectives that one can never ascertain the intentions of another and so cannot truly determine the ability to perform a genuinely selfless act. Though it appears not to exist the practical notions of selfishness and selflessness have been adapted and adopted accordingly by humanity and work effectively despite their inherent philosophical contradictions.