Self-interest-dominant vs principle-dominant humans
All human beings have a strong self-preservation or self-interest drive. The majority make decisions primarily from this drive.
These humans are self-interest-dominant.
A minority of human beings are driven primarily by internal principles.
These people have committed to an internal code and adhere to it because it's theirs, even when that costs them. This code may be conscious or unconscious; it may be a product of their upbringing or reflection.
Such humans are principle-dominant.
Everyone has both motives.
A person's dominant category is whichever one wins when the two conflict.
Principle-dominant humans adhere to their code even when following it comes at a high personal cost.
Moral quality (good or bad) is a separate axis from motivation type.
A principle-driven person can hold bad principles. Everyone that is principle-driven is not a "saint".
A person's category can change from self-interest-dominant to principle-dominant as awareness and consciousness develop. Such development can be considered a form of psychological evolution.
Developing and keeping principles is costly.
It requires sustained reflection or unusually good upbringing, along with the ability to accept losses.
Self-interest-dominant humans have a brutish animal nature.
To prevent harm from them to fellow humans, fear-based systems need to be implemented.
These fears can be classified into 2 buckets:
- Fear of harm: Someone with more power harms you physically, materially or spiritually. eg. law, divine justice from God
- Fear of exclusion: Others in your in-group withdraw their cooperation or respect. eg. religion and ideology
Principle-dominant humans are self-regulating and don't need external systems to control their behaviour.
External systems such as law in this case, serve to protect others from those with ethically bad principles.
Conclusion
Most people act the way they do because of self-interest, regulated primarily by fear.
Only a rare minority act from internalised principles.
This split concerns motivation and not goodness of behaviour.
Individuals can evolve and cross over, but few do because the shift is costly and incentives resist it.
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