Some combination of 1 and 3 (selfless/good and enlightened/good).
When we say “good” or “bad”, we need to specify for whom.
Clearly (to me) our propensity for altruism evolved partly because it’s good for the societies that have it, even if it’s not always good for the individuals who behave altruistically.
Like most things, humans don’t calculate this stuff rationally—we think with our emotions (sorry, Ayn Rand). Rational calculation is the exception.
And our emotions reflect a heuristic—be altruistic when it’s not too expensive. And esp. so when the recipients are part of our family/tribe/society (which is a proxy for genetic relatedness; cf Robert Trivers).
Some combination of 1 and 3 (selfless/good and enlightened/good).
When we say “good” or “bad”, we need to specify for whom.
Clearly (to me) our propensity for altruism evolved partly because it’s good for the societies that have it, even if it’s not always good for the individuals who behave altruistically.
Like most things, humans don’t calculate this stuff rationally—we think with our emotions (sorry, Ayn Rand). Rational calculation is the exception.
And our emotions reflect a heuristic—be altruistic when it’s not too expensive. And esp. so when the recipients are part of our family/tribe/society (which is a proxy for genetic relatedness; cf Robert Trivers).