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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (60538)	10/1/2002 5:48:25 PM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

First, they act in ways directly counter to their self- interest all the time, as I observed. Maybe you observed that to your satisfaction, but not to mine. All the examples you gave are, IMO, easily attributable to self-interest.

To: Neocon who wrote (60538)	10/2/2002 12:46:17 PM
From: cosmicforce	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

I don't know why this is such a barrier for people. The "self" in self-interest can be a transcendental self. I don't generally select suicide as an option, but it would be in my self-interest to select that as opposed to a certain death by long painful torture. Even in the extreme, my definition of "self-interest" has to include my expectation of my demise (assuming I don't believe in a life after death). This apparently contradictory situation is resolved by my ability to choose. For those who believe in life after death, the self-interest of action now as opposed to eternal costs is easy to choose. Since we only can live in the here and now and everything else (past and present) is only an abstraction of varying degrees of probability, the notion of self represents the sum total of all of our intentions and desires at this moment.