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The Row Boat"Had we but world enough, and time..." * Uniting Interests4/30/2005 12:12:29One great old problem among mankind, it might be said, is the translation of motivation and action from self-interest, which we take for granted among ourselves and others, to altruism and concern for the common good. The conventional wisdom is that self-interest is ultimately self-defeating and that our salvation, on many levels, can only be found in an ambition deferred to the common good. Society's job, perhaps, is to engender such a transfer. It seems to work; do a good deed and find yourself feeling a pleasant and particular satisfaction. Dawkins, as discussed in my previous post, explains such transitions biologically through the notion of the selfish gene. By reframing the interpretation of self-interest on the genetic level, Dawkins is able to explain many behaviors that appear altruistic but are in fact self-interested. Much of the whole phenomena of religion could itself be read as a comprehensive package for the transfer of interest from self to the common good. With promises of eternal salvation for virtuous acts on behalf of others, it binds these two disparate interests as one and the same. Along the way, religion provides systems and techniques to help. The whole structure that results may be thought beautiful. Yesterday I heard Bill Clinton talk, and he seemed to be doing much the same thing. And similarly, the act stirred me by its elegance. He developed a notion of "interdependence," in which facts of the modern world insist that our interests are intricately and directly bound up in the interests of everybody. There is no pretension to mysticism here if you don't want it; the theory was considered entirely in terms of economy and cultural forces. I found the idea tremendously inspiring. It struck me afterward the kinship such an idea has with religious systems, precisely as a result of this great alchemical miracle that it accomplishes: translation of our base self-interest into a golden common hope. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
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