Is There Such A Thing As Disinterested Motive?
There are people who hold that a man’s all actions are self-rewarding ; that is, that (though he may not be conscious of it) all he does is really done in some way for his own advantage. This means that every action is ultimately, if not immediately, selfish ; and that there is in reality no such thing as a truly unselfish action. So there is, according to this view, no such thing as a “disinterested motive”; for “disinterested” means free from self-interest, as the word is used about Napoleon by Channing: “His heart, amidst its. wild beatings, never had a throb of disinterested love.”
This doctrine is called “egoism”, which teaches that “the supreme end of human conduct is the perfection or happiness of the Ego or self ; and that all virtue consists in the pursuit of “self-interest”. (This must not be confused with “egotism”, which is self-exaltation; an “egotist” being a vain, conceited boaster.) “Egoism” reduces unselfishness to enlightened selfishness; and love of others to a satisfaction of self-love. For example, a mother’s self-sacrificing care of her child, which is usually held up as an example of selfless love, is explained as a natural craving which finds (selfish) gratification in caring for the child. The mother goes to all that trouble really (though not consciously) to please herself. She herself would be uncomfortable if she did not care for the child’s health, happiness and comfort.
This is a specious doctrine, and one not easy to disprove. For example, if you ask how the action of a man, who plunges into a rushing torrent at the risk of his life to save a child from drowning, can be described as really selfish, you will be told that ultimately it is. The man in question knows he would suffer so much from shame and gnawing regret if he stood safe on the bank and saw the child drown, that he prefers (for his own peace of mind) to risk his own life in an effort to save it. So he acts from an interested, not a disinterested, motive. This is an ingenious explanation, but not very convincing. It smacks of cynicism.
We cannot help feeling that the truth lies in the ordinary belief that there is such a thing as unselfish love ; and that the motives of those who are considerate, generous, sympathetic, kind and merciful are disinterested motives. Human nature is a nobler thing than these cynics make out, and can rise to noble acts of self-sacrifice for the good of others which are beyond the egoist. Some human beings are capable of the Love that “suffereth long and is kind”, that “beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” Egoism is a libel on human nature.
