Topic Three
Selfishness or altruism?
The political implications of the Hobbesian model need little elaboration. It is a foundational assumption of our economic system that humans are at base somewhat nasty and selfish creatures, basing their decisions on cynical, egoistic calculation rather than altruism or co-operation; in which case, the best we can hope for are more sophisticated internal and external controls on our supposedly innate drive towards accumulation and self-aggrandizement. Rousseau’s story about how humankind descended into inequality from an original state of egalitarian innocence seems more optimistic (at least there was somewhere better to fall from), but nowadays it’s mostly deployed to convince us that while the system we live under might be unjust, the most we can realistically aim for is a bit of modest tinkering.
Graeber, David. The Dawn of Everything (p. 6). Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Kindle Edition.
It might be said that Graeber and Wengrow describe a false dichotomy. It’s not a question of whether human beings are selfish or altruistic because they are both. As human beings struggle with issues of survival are they more inclined to protect themselves or help others? Remember the old slogan, “One for all and all for one?”
Each of us at different times and in different situations have to decide what matters more to us: our personal well being or the well being of the group and to what extent can we have both? These two choices do not have to be mutually exclusive, do they?
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