Auguste Comte

this man introduced an idea very old to the world but still very new to our brains. it deals with a behaviour in an individual that increases the fitness of another while decreasing their own fitness. (altruism) when i talk about "fitness" i mean in evolutionary terms.

altruism is simply self-sacrifice for the well-being of the whole, of another or even of an individual from another species. it accrues all the time in nature. like, for example, when an individual bee stings a predator for the sake of the whole hive. the bee dies, the hive is spared. we realise that this behavior is against all that has kept the bee alive and thriving up until this point but that this behavior is also innate. and completely selfless.

there is a movement to overcome individual fitness and focus on a higher well-being that has lasted as long as the world has supported life. and, i believe, it requires almost less over-all effort to achieve. most would disagree with me and here is why:

it is so easy to be selfish because some believe that selfishness is the only and/or best means of survival. however, selflessness has lasted in evolution just as long (if not longer) than selfishness. understand?

this idea means that selfishness is not the only human function of survival. it means that we cannot use human nature as an excuse for being shitty people anymore. conversely, it can explain why we may think people are being shitty to us.

if you think of these social constructions as purely evolutionary and not just humane tactics, than there are real reasons for why people act the ways that they do. if yr smart enough to understand that the realms of which we base our interactions upon are much, much broader than we ever thought...than, you can understand that morality and evolution (in a sense) can and do go hand in hand. there is less of a disconnect.