People do not live as sacrifices for others, nor do they live merely as parts of a machine functioning to bring out maximum happiness for the society, which is not essentially connected to individuals. One ought to pursuit their own best self interest. It’s worth noting, however, that self interest does not necessarily have to be limited to physical advantages, but personal benefits in general, which includes emotional and spiritual comforts as well.
The world consists of separate individuals; no matter how people claim to be connected to each other, it’s merely interactions among them with some emotions attached, which is part of the human nature. To any person, the only feeling that matters is his own; while he may be sympathetic sometimes, it’s merely because he has been emotionally attached to that person, not because what brings up his emotion truly matters. For instance, think of a
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Others’ feelings indirectly matter to us in some cases only because they are able to cause a feeling of our own. Life is not something to be sacrificed for other good.
Since one ought to follow his best self-interest, it’s essential to realize what his “best self-interest” is. It’s what brings maximum self benefit to a person. Happiness calculus will definitely work in this situation except that the extent of pleasure or benefit should no longer be considered. It’s obvious that pleasure comes from one’s mind, from something he desires to have or to experience, not merely his existence. While life is crucial, it should not always be limiting mind’s desire to pursuit greater individual pleasure, or contentedness; life is only one of the factors for producing individual pleasure, no matter how much it weighs.