@Aedes,
Aedes wrote:Much appreciated -- seriously.
That is not self-interest -- it's just a mechanism. There is plenty of empirical evidence about the nature of that mechanism -- nerve impulses, neurotransmission, nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, ATP, actin and myosin, etc. But where is the empirical evidence that this is self-interest (a value judgement) rather than just a mechanism?
I think the exercise you need to consider here is the opposite scenario.
Can someone do harm to himself? If you pick up a gun and shoot yourself in the gonads (remembering that you believe that our main human imperative is to reproduce), have you done yourself harm? Not by your argument -- by your argument you've empirically fulfilled self-interest. Or if you think that reproduction supercedes judgements about self-interest, what about someone who has already reproduced going out on a killing spree. Is that fulfillment of self-interest?
Come on, are you willing to assign this complex interaction of physical and cognitive interplay as some mundane mechanism . The ability for Human Beings to provide dynamic interference within their natural world clearly reflects an inherent multitude of latitudes that can only be available to self-indulging creatures. The proof for this can also be empirically measured by our gentlemen who could of decided NOT to help the elderly lady, or only helped for 10ft or 30ft or only to the edge of the adjacent curb.
My answer to your 2ND part question is yes, yes, and yes. The wake of Self-Interested acts are completely indifferent to YOUR interpretation of the acts, because the pursuit and execution of self-interest can NEVER transcend the self-interested individual, because we are completely self-contained units consisting of self-interested consumption.
To show how self-contained we truly are, I will use your man with the gun scenario. Let's say the man is pointing his AR-15 at you demanding that you lay face down on the floor or he is going to shoot you. It appears that your free-will has been taken from you, consequently you no longer have access to you self-interest. Not so fast, look again you still have the option to refuse, thereby maintaining self-interest and while you might pay for this indulgement with your life, the wake of Self-Interested Acts are completely indifferent or insulated from ancillary interpretations.