I wrote about this the other day on Twitter.Can any act truly be selfless? (I define selfless as an act that does not benefit the person performing it.) Let's take the ultimate act of selflessness, self sacrifice. I'll use an example from the show Supernatural.
(BTW, if you haven't seen the show but intend to, I suggest you stop reading so you don't spoil anything.)
When Daddy Winchester gives up his soul to a demon in exchange for saving his dying son, most people would find that a completely selfless act. But for Winchester senior, the thought of living without his son is more painful than being tortured in hell. In other words, he would rather burn in hell forever than live a full human life without his kid. He has made a choice that benefits him as well.
Same thing applies when Dean gives up his soul to bring his brother back from the dead. Dean would prefer to give up his soul and go to hell rather than live without his little sib. He chose the alternative he can more easily live with.
Of course none of this really matters in the real world. Whether an act of selflessness was completely altruistic is irrelevant. The act is so grand that the motives are seldom questioned. However, when you are talking about the psychology of non-human entities, i.e. mazoku, it comes into play.
When Daddy Winchester gives up his soul to a demon in exchange for saving his dying son, most people would find that a completely selfless act. But for Winchester senior, the thought of living without his son is more painful than being tortured in hell. In other words, he would rather burn in hell forever than live a full human life without his kid. He has made a choice that benefits him as well.
Same thing applies when Dean gives up his soul to bring his brother back from the dead. Dean would prefer to give up his soul and go to hell rather than live without his little sib. He chose the alternative he can more easily live with.
Of course none of this really matters in the real world. Whether an act of selflessness was completely altruistic is irrelevant. The act is so grand that the motives are seldom questioned. However, when you are talking about the psychology of non-human entities, i.e. mazoku, it comes into play.
Mazoku are a race of supernatural beings usually found in Japanese legends. In this example I will use Xelloss from the anime Slayers.)
Mazoku are are similar in nature to sociopaths (you can read more about the comparison on my live journal entry Mazoku as Sociopaths.) They can feel only a limited range of emotions, more specifically only selflish ones. Mazoku are absolutely incapable of performing a selfless act because it will destroy them. (I still have my doubts on this. Why then did Xelloss save Phyria when the cave was collapsing?) But if they can justify to themselves that any and every act is, in essence, selfish then they will be free to feel the entire range of human emotions. (In theory anyway.)Then again perhaps a mazoku can only experience those emotions that always benefit them more than others. This is getting kit picky but you get the idea.
Interesting, yes, no?
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