so compassion, this root of morality - the awareness and sympathy for another's suffering, and the resulting urge to do something about it - is conceptually simply fascinating. where you could advance your own interests, why would you sacrifice this to help your fellow beings? isn't survival of the fittest the immutable law of nature?
perhaps there are certain benefits of acting altruistically - when people think you were a better person, they place more trust in you, and you could actually further your self interests that way. a machiavellian way of advancing, but a workable method nonetheless.
or perhaps, more recently, scientists are starting to understand group selection, where we have evolved to act altruistically to our own "kind", as this gives us the greatest chance to survive as a group, against other hostile groups.
the question i have still, is why is there compassion? why do we consider compassion one of the cornerstones of goodness? i have heard how morality gives rise to structure and society. is there a similar functionality to compassion? why is compassion considered weak at times, and other times considered the show of ultimate strength?
do PhDs in philosophy know all the answers? or the gurus? the monks? the bishops?
