What is selflessness? Many people mistakenly believe that this word means some kind of complex and almost scientific term that only specialists can understand. We hasten to assure you that this is far from the case. In our publication today, we will tell you in detail about the meaning of the word "disinterestedness", and also give examples of this phenomenon from real life. We recommend reading the article to the end so as not to miss anything interesting!
What is selflessness? Definition of the word
We will not beat around the bush, but immediately proceed to discuss the topic of publication. What is selflessness? Speaking in the simplest and most understandable language, disinterestedness is a person’s desire to do good deeds for the well-being of other people, and not in order to receive a reward for this.
What is an unselfish act?
Selfless is the act that does not pursue any selfish goal, or that act that cannot be explained by selfishness alone. That is why selflessness is a property of moral behavior, as claimed by Immanuel Kant. To act morally is not to expect anything for yourself from this act.
However, this does not mean that moral behavior cannot bring pleasure to a person. Imagine that you found an expensive mobile phone, but instead of handing it over to a pawnshop, you returned it to its owner. Such an act can be called moral only if you did not want to receive a reward in return (if possible, one that exceeds the cost of the mobile phone itself), if you were not afraid to be punished by divine forces (in this case, this act will not be a sign of morality, but a sign of excessive religiosity and selfishness) and not even for the pleasure of realizing that you did the right thing in terms of morality.
The simplest, but at the same time the most effective way to cultivate selflessness in yourself is to repeat aloud: "I want you to be happy." The paradox of disinterestedness is that if a person loses a large sum of money, then this upsets him, but if he gives the same money to a good cause, then he is uplifted. The famous Soviet teacher Anton Semenovich Makarenko said that selflessness, in fact, is a "deed of secrecy," when a person perfectly understands that no one will know about his good deeds.
Selflessness is the exact opposite of self-interest. A truly disinterested person is alien to hypocrisy, hypocrisy, arrogance, vanity and other egotistic vices. A person can deceive himself and convince himself that he acts disinterestedly. Only by digging a little in himself, as a rule, he finds the true selfish motivation of his actions. Conscience, which acts as a kind of internal controller, cannot be deceived, since it immediately feels falsehood.
A disinterested person is happy to do what he loves, putting all his strength and energy into it. Labor for such people is a real holiday, which causes only positive emotions. How many people do you know who treat their work this way?
Is selflessness possible?
According to some philosophers, selflessness in its purest form does not exist, since it violates the principle of pleasure. It is impossible to say for sure whether they are right or not, in many respects because the question itself is posed incorrectly.
If we experience joy in doing a good deed, this does not mean that we do so for our own joy. But even if this were true, such positive emotions are as close as possible to selflessness. Although they cannot be called 100% disinterested, it is still better than the joy of a villain who enjoys only when he hurts and suffering other people.
Selflessness and love
When it comes to love, the question of selflessness, according to philosophers, becomes completely frivolous. This is not to say that a mother who feeds her child performs an unselfish act, since her own happiness depends on the well-being of her daughter / son. But one must be blind in order not to understand the fact that maternal love is higher than any selflessness.
An example of selflessness from life
Since we started writing such an article, it would be wrong for us not to devote a section devoted to examples of selflessness from real life. Consider the case that occurred in 1892.
The famous Russian artist Ilya Efimovich Repin was on friendly terms with Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, the pride of world literature. In the winter of 1892, when Russian lands were struck by hunger and cold, Repin decided to come to Tolstoy in the Ryazan province without warning. Arriving at the appointed place, he saw how his comrade fed the poor and hungry people in the canteens organized by him. According to Ilya Efimovich himself, the canteen area of Lev Nikolaevich was thirty miles away, and he traveled around several times a week to check them.
Synonyms
What is selflessness? We think that we were able to give a complete and detailed answer to this question. Now we would like to share with you the synonyms of "disinterestedness" in order to put a bullet on this topic. There are not so many of them, but, despite this, they should still be given a little attention.
Synonyms of the word "disinterestedness":
- Disinterestedness.
- Altruism.
- Unsteadiness.
This can be done. Now you know what disinterestedness is. We hope that the information provided in the article was interesting to you!