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Why Selfishness is a Virtue

Cav said:
Is it? Lets see the peer reviewed proof then.
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that's like asking me to give you peer reviewed "proof" of why intelligent design is a bad theory of evolution. if you want to hire me, i can do it, but you're going to have to come to many classes.
 
vuk said:
that's like asking me to give you peer reviewed "proof" of why intelligent design is a bad theory of evolution. if you want to hire me, i can do it, but you're going to have to come to many classes.
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Well, that suggests you have nothing but your opinion and no "empirical backing"?
 
Cav said:
Well, that suggests you have nothing but your opinion and no "empirical backing"?
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no, i studied this stuff in grad school and the problems with the hierarchy are vast. it's not about pointing you to a few research papers. the whole "self-actualization" notion is so absurdly vague and un-testable as to be theoretically useless, it is, however, great for charlatans like tony robbins and those "teaching" business/marketing. that's why the hierarchy has survived.
 
vuk said:
no, i studied this stuff in grad school and the problems with the hierarchy are vast. it's not about pointing you to a few research papers. the whole "self-actualization" notion is so absurdly vague and un-testable as to be theoretically useless, it is, however, great for charlatans like tony robbins and those "teaching" business/marketing. that's why the hierarchy has survived.
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The base of the Maslow pyramid speaks to the innate and undeniable built-in selfishness of human beings, that was the point in pointing it out. The theory is ubiquitous in business studies because it's an easily digestible psychological treatment of motivation. The premise being that people face difficulty "self-actualizing" the higher levels if the lower levels are unmet. I don't think it was ever meant to be grad student fodder. The fact you were studying this at that level is more of an indictment than 1st year Marketing students receiving 20 minutes on it.
 
Marky-Mark said:
The base of the Maslow pyramid speaks to the innate and undeniable built-in selfishness of human beings, that was the point in pointing it out. The theory is ubiquitous in business studies because it's an easily digestible psychological treatment of motivation. The premise being that people face difficulty "self-actualizing" the higher levels if the lower levels are unmet. I don't think it was ever meant to be grad student fodder. The fact you were studying this at that level is more of an indictment than 1st year Marketing students receiving 20 minutes on it.
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i wasn't studying maslow in grad school. i studied cognitive and social psychology so i am aware of far better accounts of human motivation. the one time maslow came up was as a joke. the only thing his pyramid "speaks to" is granny wisdom, which we know is often totally backwards.
 
vuk said:
i wasn't studying maslow in grad school. i studied cognitive and social psychology so i am aware of far better accounts of human motivation. the one time maslow came up was as a joke. the only thing his pyramid "speaks to" is granny wisdom, which we know is often totally backwards.
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The vukmobile is swerving all over the road again!

vuk said:
no, i studied this stuff in grad school and the problems with the hierarchy are vast. .
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I'd say a remedial course on posting logic is in order there at the old grad school.
 
the "stuff" i studied was motivation and cognition.

bringing up maslow in that context is almost as bad as bringing up the gold standard in a serious discussion of economics, unless one is dealing with history.
 
vuk said:
i wasn't studying maslow in grad school. i studied cognitive and social psychology so i am aware of far better accounts of human motivation. the one time maslow came up was as a joke. the only thing his pyramid "speaks to" is granny wisdom, which we know is often totally backwards.
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Oh! But you feel able to dismiss what you never studied. You have no rebuttal except it is "granny wisdom". Neat.
 
Cav said:
Oh! But you feel able to dismiss what you never studied. You have no rebuttal except it is "granny wisdom". Neat.
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I wouldn't bother. It would take 5 minutes for someone with any depth in a subject to articulate a critical analysis beyond insulting some part of it while ignoring its application. In this case, a perfectly valid entry for the topic.

Social sciences, economics, politics ... no matter the topic the result is the same.
 
Is the 'will to dominance' (on display online constantly) the same as selfishness? A particular case of it? An allied but separate drive?

And don't we need to define 'virtue' before deciding if any thing is one?
 
Perhaps you're conflating the defense of one's position, or oneself from gratuitous insult, with the desire to feel dominant over someone rhetorically for shits and giggles? The latter of the two likely being what compelled the former event in the first place.

I hesitate to go further than that because I don't understand your question beyond the trolling aspect of it.
 
I don't understand the implied dichotomy between 'libertarian' and 'right wing' in the OP. It seems to me that libertarians can be either right-wing or left-wing, or neither. Thus on the subject of illegal drugs, for example there is a right-wing case and a left-wing case for the abolition of laws around brain-altering drugs. Both would centre around the issue of personal choice, but the former might also see an opportunity for capitalist enterprises to exploit a new market. Similarly, in terms of education, there is a right-wing and a left-wing case against state-provided education; the former on the basis that a) there should be a 'free market' in schools and that b) parents must be free to choose how, and indeed whether to educate their children, the latter on the basis that state provision will lead to indoctrination and the suppression of dissent.
 
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