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    Mandeville and Helvetius demonstrated that natural desire... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→Sulzer's moral theory is not egocentric.

    Mandeville and Helvetius demonstrated that natural desires for others' happiness can be fully explained as disguised self-interest, socialized through habit and reinforcement.

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    1 reason for
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    Reasons For

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    • 1.Humans consistently prioritize kin and reciprocal partners, suggesting apparent altruism masks evolved self-interest in genetic or social returns.
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    • 2.People cease helping when observation ends and reputation costs disappear, indicating moral sentiment depends on external reinforcement, not intrinsic values.
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    • 3.Neuroimaging shows helping triggers reward centers identical to those activated by personal gain, suggesting unified mechanism beneath moral appearance.
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    Reasons Against

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    • 1.Some aid stranger-anonymously-to-death cases (organ donation, rescue) with zero reputational benefit, defying pure self-interest explanations.
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    • 2.If all concern for others is disguised self-interest, the theory becomes unfalsifiable—any counterexample is reinterpreted as hidden selfishness.
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    • 3.Habits and reinforcement cannot create desires ex nihilo; they presuppose some prior capacity for genuine other-regarding motivation to shape.
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    Related

    Habits and reinforcement cannot create desires ex nihilo; they presuppose some p...Humans consistently prioritize kin and reciprocal partners, suggesting apparent ...If all concern for others is disguised self-interest, the theory becomes unfalsi...Neuroimaging shows helping triggers reward centers identical to those activated ...
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    People cease helping when observation ends and reputation costs disappear, indic...Some aid stranger-anonymously-to-death cases (organ donation, rescue) with zero ...Sulzer's moral theory is not egocentric.

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