Concerning sacrifice

[Mock Turtle]

The following radio programme is worth a listen, as are most of Laurie Taylor's, so what do you think that the notion of sacrifice has benefited us as a whole or done the opposite, as the many cases cited should show?

BBC Radio 4 - Thinking Allowed, Sacrifice

I have the suspicion, as the first speaker, Chetan Bhatt points out, that much is done from narcissism and the betterment of oneself than anything else.

 

[Augustus]

do you think that the notion of sacrifice has benefited us as a whole or done the opposite

I'm not sure 'benefit' is the best way to look at it as it's probably just an inescapable part of human socialisation.

Sacrifice is ultimately about demonstrating commitment to a community; one cannot effectively demonstrate commitment without incurring some form of cost.

Most communities, to some extent, rely on some members making sacrifices (time, money, resources, their lives, etc) in order to function effectively. Successful communities tend to be overrepresented in the numbers of members willing to make costly sacrifices to further the group's aims.

The degree to which members are willing to sacrifice something depends on things like commitment to the aims of the community, status or desire to be accepted within the community, alignment of individual identity with community identity, perception of tangible net benefits from the sacrifice, etc.

 

[Sunstone]

In ancient hierarchical communities (e.g. the early city states), the persons expected to sacrifice their possessions and/or their lives were generally the richest, most powerful members of the community or at least their sons and daughters.

However, in non-hierarchical communities (e.g. hunting/gathering groups), sacrifice was made mostly of possessions and/or body parts, rather than of lives. The sacrifice of body parts (chop off a finger, for example) was usually associated with showing gratitude to the game animals for their sacrifice of their lives. That is, you chopped off a finger joint in gratitude to the elk people for the food they had provided you with through the sacrifice of their lives. On the other hand, sacrifice of possessions was associated with keeping folks within the group more or less equal in material terms. If you owned six horses, you might give away five of them to people who had fewer horses than you. Doing so would raise your status and authority within the group.

At least all of the above is to the best of my memory. Been decades since I studied the issue -- and what I once learned about it might by now be out of date.

 

[Aldrnari]

-- and what I once learned about it might by now be out of date.

Well, if the examples you use to demonstrate sacrifice involve giving away your horses and chopping off fingers in reverence to the elk people, I suspect what you know might certainly be out of date... Just how old are you, anyways?

 

[WalterTrull]

Apparently, there are many definitions of sacrifice. It's becoming fascinating to me how many words have such a broad spectrum of definition.
Anyway, I like to think of sacrifice as a way to break bad habits. I will give up hemlock for a week. If I feel better, we'll see.