4 ms·

I've had the opportunity to be that completely selfless person for someone else who's very young. Perhaps being of one's own blood can factor into making that c

I've had the opportunity to be that completely selfless person for someone else who's very young. Perhaps being of one's own blood can factor into making that commitment to acting selfless, but once such a commitment is made, those factors can't have any bearing on continuing to act in a selfless way without contradicting that initial commitment. Once you make that commitment you make decisions based on their needs, wants, goals, and their and your limitations, with no interest to whatever idea is tied up to being of one's blood, beyond being just another asset or limitation just like everything else that define your social place.

parthianshotgun 4y ago
The impetus for that feeling or set of decisions being familial bonds, I believe, is a different kind of selflessness. I'm not sure how you could detach the consequences from the antecedent. I guess you're making a deontological claim (but don't take my word for it, I'm a philosophy novice). I'd go further in the case for selflessness and say that _if_ the happenstance of the decision to be selfless is based on some unthoughtout biological drive, then can it really be selfless? Thinking is the thing here, and why should this necessarily lead to broader self effacement. That's like saying I'd donate my liver to my brother (cuz he's my brother) and after that the consequences and ritual and beauty of the donation are enough to warrant the possible future where I might donate another organ to a complete stranger, because I did the dance.