Love is the most selfish emotion to feel

Rebuttal 1: The key to the key to selfish desire? “Love is firstly an emotion that, when felt, opens doors to only beneficial emotions. What causes the pain when losing a so called 'loved one' is that the love has turned into obsession which differs from love in that love does no obscure rational thinking but obsession does. . . . Similarly when you love someone and they die that pain is not due to the fact that you love them but the fact that you can't experience their presence anymore. Thus[,] love is not a key to pain but rather a key to what could be the key to pain... happiness and excitement.” As my opponent has already stated, love can turn into an obsession, which is inherently selfish. I agree. However, here is my problem: something that is a “key to what could be the key to pain,” is not the same as the “key of pain.” Happiness and excitement, technically, fall under the definition of selfishness, so this fact seems relevant to your overall point. In fact, this is crucial. However, as my opponent has stated, love is not obsession. Obsession is the emotion (although, I have not decided whether or not obsession qualifies as an emotion yet; seems like one could make a case for it) / feeling that leads to happiness and excitement, which are inherently selfish. Love is not. Therefore, your point is irrelevant, and is actually beneficial to my argument. Rebuttal 2: Are coping mechanisms necessarily selfish? “A key to joy is clearly very beneficial to one's self but also has another side to it. When you begin to love a living you start finding it easier to please that being and sacrifice yourself without being sad or angry. This means that if you began to fall in love with your boss at work or happened to love your parents to a higher degree than usual, you would being finding the fact they they used you and bossed you around easier to handle, thus using it as an extremely beneficial coping mechanism.”I would like my opponent to provide a source supporting that this happens whatsoever, let alone in this fashion. However, ignoring this for a moment, are coping mechanisms necessarily selfish? Well, based, yes. However, let us think about this. If someone is using love as a coping mechanism – unless proven otherwise – is likely using it as a coping mechanism on a sub- or un-conscious level, meaning that they do not actively wish to do this. While this may be selfish, it is beyond the person’s overall control, and therefore should not be used as an argument against them. Furthermore, assuming this even occurs on a conscious level, this would be the exception, and not the rule. Rebuttal 3: The seven deadly sins? I thank my opponent for addressing my points from the comments before I accepted this debate. Good on you. However, I do not accept your explanation. You accept that the seven deadly sins are emotions, and that they are selfish. Good. However, my opponent states that it is not selfish, as: “. . . I very much believe that while feeling anger or envy or any of the deadly sins you actually don't feel good but feel negative and bad while feeling them.” Okay. I agree. However, whether or not the results are negative for the individual is irrelevant. The definition of selfish Pro provided says that which concerns with one’s own personal profit or pleasure. As long as the action is done with pleasure and personal profit as the end goal in mind, it is selfish, despite what the outcome is. Therefore, I conclude that the seven deadly sins qualify in this debate. Furthermore, even if we were to accept this, than obsessions would not be selfish (as they have very negative consequences on the individual), which would destroy my opponent’s first point, unless Pro would wish to contend that obsessions provide an outcome of personal benefit to those who are obsessing. First Point: Are lust or greed an emotion? The definition of an emotion, as provided by Pro in this debate, is “A natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one's circumstances, mood, or relationships with others.” With this definition, one can immediately dismiss greed – It is unfortunate, but we can preserve! – however, lust is not so easily removed from this equation. Lust is defined as: “uncontrolled or illicit sexual desire or appetite.” [1, d:2] As a desire is a state of the mind, desires qualify. Furthermore, lust is a desire brought on by sexual thoughts derived from one’s relationships with others, primarily sexual relationships. Therefore: lust, in this regard, is an emotion. As my opponent has pointed out, obsessions are selfish. This is the crux of his first point. Furthermore, I contend that lust is an obsession. An obsession is “a persistent disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling.” [2] As lust is uncontrolled, and is viewed as a constant preoccupation with sex, it is an obsession. Therefore, I conclude that lust is more selfish than love. Point 2: Is envy selfish? To envy is: “[to have a] desire to have a quality, possession, or other desirable attribute belonging to (someone else).” [3] As envy chiefly concerns with striving for another person’s qualities or possession for your own personal profit (such as envying over someone else’s fortune) or pleasure (such as envying over another child’s game), it is selfish. I therefore submit that envy is another emotion that is more selfish than love. [1] http://dictionary.reference.com... [2] http://www.merriam-webster.com... [3] http://oxforddictionaries.com...