I think there are a few reasons for the conflict between selflessness and self-interest. The best real world illustration of this conflict is seen in the formation of a firm. The entrepreneur has the idea that in most cases requires help in its execution. Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, but without the cooperation of many people nobody except a few hundred would have one. In cooperating the entrepreneur must be willing to compensate the people who are involved in production. This includes laborers, supervisors, and executives who all must share in the revenues in exchange for their service. The trade-off between selflessness and altruism can be seen in any firm with the simple observation that the entrepreneur can trade some of his profits for increased productivity and conversely squeeze his employees for more profits. There is obviously an equilibrium of sorts such that the entrepreneur with take profits past a point of diminishing marginal returns on productivity provided that that point is profitable, competitively stable, and acceptable to the employees. If there is an optimum compensation point it is then easy to see how a "balance" can

be struck between selfishness and altruism. In Lord of the Flies the absence of opposition to Jack allows for selfishness to dominate. Jack's cooperative acts were structured to better his position. In doing this he had to provide for the people he commanded. This is another example of an "equilibrium point." The difference between this scenario and the corporate example above is the absence of competition. Axelrod's most applicable views to this scenario are seen in his game theory approach. In cooperation altruism and selfishness are aligned such that both are met at acceptable levels.

At any point before the sighting of the monster Ralph could have restored complete order and regained sole control by retaliation on either of the two fronts. An example of a retaliation that would have been particularly effective would have been to kill a pig before Jack's gang did. This would have been in the favor of the constituency as well as being a direct threat to Jack's rule. However, Jack's approach took into account Ralph's plan to not pay any attention to his actions.

Jack's plan is certainly more selfish than Ralph's. Ralph after all, wants everyone to get off the island. Which although not entirely altruistic is certainly more so than Jack's "everyone have fun my way" plan. If this is so clear then why does any one follow Jack. This is an important step in answering the question of balance between altruism and selfishness. A balance must be attained by focusing on goals that garner the most utility for all of those concerned. After all a paredo efficient compromise between two parties can be viewed as almost altruistic, especially when the other choices involve a perceived non paredo allocation of rights. This is evident in Lord of the Flies. The group saw Jack's plan as the more paredo effi

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Approximate Word count = 1230
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)