Hi Kevin. Your argument (nothing personal :) seems to me to
border on absurdity. Most people who risk there lives for
someone else do not do so for selfish reasons. They don't
peek over their shoulders to see whose looking. For
example: suppose it is my daughter drowning. Would I risk
drowning to save her? Of course. Is the motivation to
save my genes? Of course not, this is absurd. The motivation
is that I love my daughter as much or more as myself. How
could anyone deny this?
I think though that you have a mis-characterization of
what the ultra-Darwinist would argue. It doesn't matter
one wit what my motives are, what matters is the outcome.
The outcome is that my descendent survives. This seems
rather obvious to me. The real problem for the sociobiologists
would be that something like altruism is a genetic trait.
Merely arguing that a particular action promotes the survival
of my genes is not enough.
Brian Harper
Associate Professor
Applied Mechanics
The Ohio State University
"It is not certain that all is uncertain,
to the glory of skepticism." -- Pascal