Depends on to what degree. You have to have your own needs met before you can help anyone else, so you have to be selfish and/or greedy in order to meet your needs and to insure survival. After that... well there are people who are selfish to a point you want to just kick them to the moon without a return and there are people that are so selfless you can just shake your head and say "There's no way I could/would do that. ". I would consider myself somewhere in the middle. I donate my stuff I don't want anymore instead of throwing it away even though that would be more convenient, cause I think someone else would definitely benefit from this stuff. However, one can reason that even this is selfish, cause it makes you feel good to do so (not so sure if I would agree with that reasoning though). Anyway... anything is bad if you overdo it... mho

I don't think greed and selfishness are good. Looking out for your own interests is important, but that doesn't need to be "greedy and selfish". Those words define an extreme that aren't necessary to survive or even do well. I spend a lot of time volunteering with Drupal, the software that runs this website. I've given a great deal of my time just because I enjoy helping and I love the software. It's coming back to me in the form of freelance work because now my name is out there. So I'm getting something out of it in the end but that wasn't my goal. I wasn't being greedy or selfish and yet I gained. This is just one example but there are many more. I think if you live your life in a way that you give at least as much as you take you'll find you get plenty without ever being greedy or selfish.

Michelle

I agree with your view .
However,looking at the larger picture of life ,especially the competitive scenario of our current life situations,I feel that I conveniently forget the values and ethics ( even though it is intentional! ) while facing the reality!. People would call it "Survival instinct!" I know it is very hard to practice...

Thanks!
Joe

I took a Philosophy class once and we discussed this very topic and according to the teacher, nothing we do is unselfish, cause we get a satisfaction out of helping others. It's just a different kind of selfishness than you interpret it.

I'd have to have some selfishness in me or I'd give everything I have away all the time. And greed can be a motivator to work hard, make money and get the stuff we really want. Its when people steal out of greed that ruins it for the rest of us. Bringing up prices, requiring lot of security measures. I useto think very few people steal till I worked at Walmart and saw people trying to steal and talked to the undercover security people. They said most of the time when people steal, they had enough money in their wallets to pay for what they stole but now they get fines too.