In Nietzsche’s piece, The Gay Science, the argument forms that one who praises selflessness is in fact being selfish. He states, “The ‘neighbor’ praises selflessness because it brings him advantages.” Looking at this quote one is originally absorbed by the apparent logic in it. ‘The only reason we praise those who help others is because it encourages even more people to sacrifice their own well being for the benefit of me.’ Is this really true though? Why then do we praise those who donate to causes that do not help us? Or ones in which the benefactor is someone we don’t’ even know?
At first glance I was shocked at how great an argument the selfishness of praising selflessness was. I told my roommate and had a good conversation with my dad about it and through these discussions I began to see the flaw in the reasoning of Nietzsche. Nietzsche seems to think that the neighbor will only praise the giver if he benefits from the sacrifice. There are many examples were this is not true. I know I have never received any charitable organizations bestowing money or privilege on me yet I still praise the things they do for the people they help. I know that I have received kind, selfless acts from friends and that I greatly appreciate them when they come around but that’s what I think friends do for each other. It is not like I take advantage of my friends, it is a reciprocating game in which both of us help each other so that we both end up better in the end. Simply because someone does something selfless doesn’t mean they have to be incredibly worse off. If my friend wants me share my notes with him it honestly doesn’t harm me in any way but it helps him a lot. I will probably never ask to see his notes but I know that I can help him so I do. Does him thanking me for giving him my notes selfish? Not in my opinion, that’s just what friends do.
Upon further reflection I also realized that many times, people praise the selfless even when they don’t have anything to gain from it. When we look at Bill Gates, who is donating billions to various charities, we do not say that is a great act because he helped us personally. Instead we look at it and say that is an admirable thing to do, he is helping those in need and for that reason we should praise his selflessness. Most people who praise these acts do not actually feel the impact of these billions of dollars but know that other people do. All these people are not being selfless in encouraging him to donate more or encouraging others to act in a like manner because they are not receiving any benefit themselves.
Nietzsche’s argument may appear intelligent and accurate when viewed on a small scale of personal gains and sacrifices but on the larger scale most people who praise selflessness are not acting selfish. I would even argue that between friends and “neighbors” selfless acts and their praise benefit everyone not just the recipient of the praise. Friendship is a relationship of mutual giving and receiving that makes everyone involved better off.
In fact, if you look at it logically the praise of selflessness may actually be selfless itself. We see someone doing something for our community and we sacrifice our time, effort or money to congratulate them and encourage them to do more. Other people see this and feel like maybe they can sacrifice a bit of themselves for the benefit of society and more selfless acts are created. So by giving up your own time and effort to praise the selfless you inspire more people to act in a like manner creating a greater good for society. In other words your sacrifice benefits the greater good.
