When you watch a body becoming a corpse, you’re watching this occurring in the present although your brain registers the change as if you’re actually seeing the past.
Yes, but please don’t make the mistake of making satisfaction analogous with pleasure. Sometimes we sacrifice pleasure to gain something more satisfying in the short or long term.
Yes it is because you are getting greater satisfaction in solving the problem for this other person than your own. Therefore you are still moving in the direction of the “greater” satisfaction.
Responsibility is discussed in Chapter Two, and he shows why it goes up, not down, with this knowledge. Proper decision making and self-awareness are words that won’t have much meaning in the new world because everyone will be making proper decisions for them. Self-awareness is great for people who want to understand what makes them tick. This is not a prerequisite to changing the environment in such a way that all hurt is removed. Finally, the author was very clear that we’re not always satisfied but we choose what we consider to be the least dissatisfying if all of our options are undesirable.
[i]Let me summarize by taking careful note of this simple
reasoning that proves conclusively (except for the implications already
referred to) that will is not free. Man has two possibilities that are
reduced to the common denominator of one. Either he does not have
a choice because none is involved, as with aging, and then it is obvious
that he is under the compulsion of living regardless of what his
particular motion at any moment might be, or he has a choice and
then is given two or more alternatives of which he is compelled by his
nature to prefer the one that appears to offer the greatest satisfaction
whether it is the lesser of two evils, the greater of two goods, or a good
over an evil. Therefore, it is absolutely impossible for will to be free
because man never has a free choice, though it must be remembered
that the words good and evil are judgments of what others think is
right and wrong, not symbols of reality.
The truth of the matter is
that the words good and evil can only have reference to what is a
benefit or a hurt to oneself. Killing someone may be good in
comparison to the evil of having that person kill me. The reason
someone commits suicide is not because he is compelled to do this
against his will, but only because the alternative of continuing to live
under certain conditions is considered worse. He was not happy to
take his own life but under the conditions he was compelled to prefer,
by his very nature, the lesser of two evils which gave him greater
satisfaction. [u]Consequently, when he does not desire to take his own
life because he considers this the worse alternative as a solution to his
problems, he is still faced with making a decision, whatever it is, which
means that he is compelled to choose an alternative that is more
satisfying.
For example, in the morning when the alarm clock goes
off he has three possibilities; commit suicide so he never has to get up,
go back to sleep, or get up and face the day. Since suicide is out of
the question under these conditions, he is left with two alternatives.
Even though he doesn’t like his job and hates the thought of going to
work, he needs money, and since he can’t stand having creditors on
his back or being threatened with lawsuits, it is the lesser of two evils
to get up and go to work. He is not happy or satisfied to do this when
he doesn’t like his job, but he finds greater satisfaction doing one
thing than another.[/u] Dog food is good to a starving man when the
other alternatives are horse manure or death, just as the prices on a
menu may cause him to prefer eating something he likes less because
the other alternative of paying too high a price for what he likes more
is still considered worse under his particular circumstances.[/i]
We don’t always view things as good or bad, but we are constantly comparing options when making decisions. We often choose between the greater of two or more goods but we are sometimes forced to choose between the lesser of two evils when no choice is satisfying. People often do things that are dissatisfying in the short term for something better in the long term. This doesn’t negate the fact that we must choose what is the better alternative in our eyes [not someone else’s] when we’re comparing meaningful differences.