on the advantages, and drawbacks of leading a solipsistic lifestyle
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“How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his
nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness
necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing
it.”
— Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments
However selfless the actions of an individual seem, as long as they physically, emotionally, or even intangibly offer benefit to self, they cannot be considered such. For an act to be Selfless it must be devoid of self; therefore, only actions which are diametrically opposed to the will of the person performing them can be considered selfless acts. This is not to condemn selfish acts, as I myself believe that self-interest, when correctly aligned, is the highest interest. Take example I, where a mother has the choice between feeding a random child and her own, knowing that one of them will die of starvation. In this situation, it is right that a mother should take interest in feeding her child—an extension of herself—in alignment with her will for preservation of self. The problem with this definition is that it relies on a single solid-state will, when instead will is hierarchical—a taxonomy of priority. Let us take Yeshua at Gethsemane in Matthew 26:39. He asks, “Let this cup of suffering be taken away from me,” and in the same sentence says, “Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” It is here where I would like to separate Primary Desire from Higher-Order Desire. This allows for a consolidation in our definition: any act of will that is Higher Order, and in diametric opposition to one’s primary will, is against the self-interest of a person and thus qualifies as a selfless act by my more rigorous definition.
The inate harm of excessive self-interest is dependant upon a plethora of factors, and therefor lies counterintuitive to any system of rational prediction. Some of these factors can be predicted with a higher accuracy such as the ostracism of a individual from society when a communal relationship is not formed on the basis
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Yotam, Kris. (Aug 2025). Against the Desire for Solipsism. krisyotam.com. https://krisyotam.com/essays/philosophy/against-the-desire-for-solipsism
@article{yotam2025against-the-desire-for-solipsism,
title = "Against the Desire for Solipsism",
author = "Yotam, Kris",
journal = "krisyotam.com",
year = "2025",
month = "Aug",
url = "https://krisyotam.com/essays/philosophy/against-the-desire-for-solipsism"
}