Altruism, egotism and creativity

Altruism is not only the preeminence of the "other," and egotism is not only the preeminence of the ego or the individual, as Nietzsche seemed to suggest, altruism is also a natural instinct, a biological conscience. Egoism is not purer as a natural instinct, and altruism is not less authentic. Human nature and human social life are a not-always-harmonious mix of individual and group selection, with group selection tending to be the final arbitrator of success (see E.O.Wilson's latest).

Sometimes it seem as if at least part of Nietzsche's motive is to extirpate all guilt in regard to the treatment of others. Perhaps Nietzsche keenly felt the drag of convention rejecting his brilliant work, especially in comparison to Wagner.  As long as we naturally need others to survive and prosper than “guilt” about our behavior toward others will be a check on our egotism, and this is as natural and biological an instinct as egotism, so getting rid of all guilt as Nietzsche and later Freud seemed to advocate may not be all that healthy.

As considered here recently, we do need to find a way for real individual genius to have wide freedom to create, but we can affirm genius not by holding up egoism as the only authentic natural instinct in man---society needs to have the right to distinguish between the work of anti-social criminal genius and the work of socially healthy genius. George Dumezil dug deeply examining the origins of the conflict between the different social castes in early human culture, but I, for one, think the social psychologist and sociobiologist Raymond Cattell updated and upgraded this subject regarding individual genius and group survival and reproduction, with an eye toward still progressing and evolving. Nietzsche and Freud and then their postmodern followers seem too selfish.