: SDF: Do the (deciduous) trees lose their leaves in the autumn out of self-interest?If they dont they stand a high chance of dying. The tree doesnt get to choose suicide, it simply does what it does in order to live. Humans however can spend their entire life studying postmodernism if they believe it to be in their interest to do so.
: SDF: Ah yes, but "he did it because his mom was angry" at least supplies some contextual clues as to the origin of Jimmy's behavior, whereas "he did it because of self-interest" tells us nothing of the sort.
It does tell us that the central point is him and his values. So when we analyse his behaviour we wont come up with something spurious, we can relate it back to him. The contextual clue is only useful if its understood in terms of the person as being motivated by himself. His mother is not the cause of the brick being thrown, he is. Exploring from there gets closer to the truth.
: Upon further reflection, I have to wonder what the point of an explanation "he did it because of self-interest" really is, if there really is any point at all. Are we interested in blaming Jimmy to satisfy an emotional fetish? Bad bad bad bad bad bad (repeat as recommended) Jimmy!
No, it isnt an excercise in attributing blame. It is relating the activity back to person making it.
I can see this is drifting towards the 'columbine killers did it because of TV' type argument
