The Structure of Self-Interest

"If people sometimes act for others, it is only because they think that it is in their own best interests to do so (David MacKinnon)”. I would say all actions is motivated by self-interest because self-interest, constantly have people striving to think of new ways to achieve their ambitions and protect their interests. The only possible way to get someone to not spend their lives as a devious deceitful person with power would be to persuade them that striving for more power and pleasure to enjoy an eternity in heaven. However, self-interest acts do not always require us to live in order to achieve our goals. One can just as much die to hurt people as easy as they can die to save people. For example, terrorism they are willing to die to kill.

The sixth major point also George Washington’s Farewell Address mentions that “No Foreign Alliances”. America had some times to where we stay isolated but needed to form any policy that if we wanted to be described as the “power house”, we didn’t have to follow anybody but to be a leader and an example to

Social advances in American life led to many young adult getting involved with the Antiwar Movement of the 1960s. Older generations were not the ones typically vocalizing their beliefs and disapproval of the war. Protesters not only wanted to express disapproval of the Vietnam war, but also the draft. The first Antiwar Movements took place in April 1965 and were nonviolently protesting the Vietnam War. Those who were apart of the antiwar movement were determined to get their message across. Radical protestors held up signs that read slogans such as “Make love, not war,” and “Hell no, we won't go!”. These signs highly offended traditionalists and was set apart from the norm. Antiwar movement eclipsed the other movements going on during the 1960s due to its cause and its protestors (“Antiwar Movement (Vietnam)” 1). As the country surged into the 1970s, the protests turned from nonviolent to violent. “As violence increased within the Antiwar Movement there was a shift in public opinion: Older Americans and prominent figures became more vocal in their criticism of the continuing war” (“Antiwar Movement (Vietnam ) 3”. United States citizens, particularly the youth, furthered from “thinking inside of the box” and like their parents and began expressing their own ideologies and beliefs.. Also, with the up rise of

In the 1960s, the Vietnam War greatly affected American society, as many citizens did not condone of the egregious war, prompting protests. Following attacks by the North Vietnamese, the United States began bombing North Vietnam, leaving Americans to question the government’s motives in this war. Only a small number of citizen backed the anti-war movement at first; however, the exorbitant number of causalities, along with the draft system, caused even more individuals to join the movement. The anti-war protest gained an abundance of publicity and respect after Civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Veterans of Vietnam backed the effort (“Vietnam War Protests”). The atmosphere of protest affected nearly all aspects of life in the

While U.S. involvement can accommodate other countries, it can also be belligerent based on ideal of the states the U.S. is attempting to assist. Owen states that during foreign involvement, if both states do not share liberal or democratic ideals, this

So often we hear in the news about protest ending in violence. There have been too many people harmed by individuals who take matters into their own hands to solve their own grievances. We have witnessed death as a result of the use of weapons, physical force and even the action of driving a vehicle into a crowd of innocent bystanders. The United States Constitution stipulate in the first amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” (United States Constitution, 1789) The use of symbolic speech as a form of expression involving unspoken actions to convey ideas is protected by the first amendment of the U.S. It is a vehicle for peacefully assembly that could significantly reduce acts of violence. Therefore, people should be allowed to protest through symbolic speech by using a variety of art forms or none verbal actions on any forum, without resulting in retribution for expressing their ideas as a mean to decrease violent behaviors.

The concept of being self interested is demeanored as selfish according to many minds, but you have to look at it in a deeper sense. Being self interested has its capability of being something evil, however, I believe the concept of being self interested is designed to better a human naturally, rather than feed one's ego for themselves. Obviously, the impact our culture has on us, can greatly deceive what the purpose for self interest is and plant a twist on it, causing it to turn into a negative and conceited concept. If one was to tell me straight up that they are self interested in themselves, my first thought would be they are overly confident which is perceived as a bad thing often in our world, but then again it's a confusing culture

We cannot turn on our televisions or get on social media without hearing about recent protests. Some peaceful and some violent, but what difference do the two make? We all have seen riots and we’ve seen how they can end: a spray of rubber bullets, dogs digging their teeth into screaming people’s legs, and the trashing of public places. We’ve seen the sit-ins and marches filled with people that have no fear in holding their signs high and proud. To some violence seems like the only answer, but the results are not as rewarding nor as long lasting. Although some may believe violence is the only answer they are turning a blind eye because nonviolent protests are more successful, get more government support, and gather more civilians around the cause.

Around the world citizens of countries who have no laws allowing demonstrations of protest peaceful or otherwise are protesting in the streets. When those citizens take up arms and fight back the government law enforcement with rock and bottles, American media is quick to cast harsh criticisms of government and side with the people. (cite) All too often stories of “civil disobedience” in Europe and Egypt are reported as human right although there are no laws in those country that allow for such protest and therefore those citizens are indeed breaking the

This obsessive desire to reach a homogenous society pitches Liberal Democracies against all other political regimes, ideologies, and religions, thus foreign societies often disagree with the United States and Europe’s foreign policies towards them. Furthermore, the imposition of democratic values and beliefs is a contradiction in

In order to clear self-interest in Polanyi, firstly let's begin a consideration on altruism paradoxically. Economic activity motivated by a non-profit in the archaic society such as reciprocity and redistribution seems altruism at a glance. As Pearson said, these activities face off against nineteenth-century economic world figured by exchange, market society, the profit motive, and rational homo economics. When the people, however, were altruistic in the antediluvian society, the reason why people become self-interest in the modern is not certain. If a man has changed to self-interest with altruism, the question why the transformation would appear should be discussed. As long as tracing to his discourse, neither shift of human nature nor a

The Liberal ideals of the United States is possibly their biggest driver when it comes to crafting foreign policies and grand strategies, as it goes back to their founding, “the land of the free” is in their anthem after-all. The first idea of making Liberalism a global goal, was in the form of ‘Manifest Destiny,’ the term came from the

Second, liberal nations believe in a dividing of cultures and respecting of others' rights. This means that a liberal nation will not desire to become controller of the world (792).

Selfishness. A personality trait that only bad people have. Incorrect. Selfishness is part of the nature of every living human being. Despite what all humans may believe selfishness is a part of all of us and is the driving force behind everything we do. In order to survive humans must be selfish and think of their own needs above other peoples. We must be selfish to our surrounding environment by using the resources essential to humans that our environment bears. Strangely enough it is often considered an insult to be called selfish.

Meet Homo economicus, the perfectly rational and self-interested agent used as a model of human behaviour in neoclassical economics. Lacking the emotion and cognitive biases that typically cloud optimal decision making, Homo economicus is able to consistently pursue self-interest without any regard for the welfare of others. The troubling observation here is that economists have been modelling human behaviour in a manner effectively consistent with psychopathy. The classic, albeit Hollywood inspired psychopath – intelligent, capable of self-control, driven to succeed and dominate others – is disturbingly similar to our description of Homo economicus. Indeed, using a variety of anonymous, one-shot cooperation games, Yamagishi et al. (2014)