Transcript Look out for #1--and there is no #2” Ethical Egoism

“Look out for #1--and there is no
#2”
Ethical Egoism
Lawrence M. Hinman
University of San Diego
[email protected]
7/18/2015
(c) Lawrence M. Hinman
1
Be My Valentine?


“Love, we are repeatedly taught, consists of selfsacrifice. Love based on self-interest, we are
admonished, is cheap and sordid. True love, we
are told, is altruistic. But is it?
“Genuine love is the exact opposite. It is the most
selfish experience possible, in the true sense of
the term: it benefits your life in a way that
involves no sacrifice of others to yourself nor of
yourself to others.”
--Gary Hull
Valentine’s Day, 1998
Ayn Rand Institute in Marina del Rey
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(c) Lawrence M. Hinman
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Two Types of Egoism

Two types of egoism:
– Psychological egoism
• Asserts that as a matter of fact we all
always act selfishly
• Purely descriptive
– Ethical egoism
• Maintains that we should always act
selfishly
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(c) Lawrence M. Hinman
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Psychological Egoism

Claims that everyone acts selfishly.
– A version of social Darwinism’s
survival of the fittest.

Clarify:
– Selfish or self-interested?
– Maximizing or non-maximizing?
– Exclusive or non-exclusive?
– Genuine or apparent self-interest?
– Causally determined?
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(c) Lawrence M. Hinman
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How selfish are we?

Unclear: Do we act selfishly all the
time or only most of the time?
– If we act selfishly all the time, how could
we prove this?
– If we act selfishly only part of the time,
this is true but uninteresting
– What counts as counter-evidence?
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(c) Lawrence M. Hinman
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What does it mean to be
selfish?

If we are selfish, do
we only do things
that are in our
genuine selfinterest?
– What about the chain
smoker? Is this
person acting out of
genuine selfinterest?
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(c) Lawrence M. Hinman
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What does it mean to be
selfish?

If we are selfish, do
we only do things are
we believe are in our
self-interest?
– What about those who
believe that sometimes
they act altruistically?
Does anyone truly
believe Mother Theresa
was completely
selfish?
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(c) Lawrence M. Hinman
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Unfalsifiable Hypotheses

Is psychological
egoism an
unfalsifiable
hypothesis?
– Apparently very
powerful
– Actually not
empirical: no
counter-instances
– Karl Popper
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(c) Lawrence M. Hinman
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Motives and Consequences


Psychological egoists often confuse
motives and consequences
The fact that we may get something back
as a result of a particular action does not
entail that we did the action in order to get
something back.
– We may experience great rewards in love, but
that doesn’t mean we do it solely or even
primarily in order to obtain those rewards.
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(c) Lawrence M. Hinman
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Reconceptualizing
Psychological Egoism, 1
The standard view of human motivation embedded in
discussions of psychological egoism sees egoism and
altruism as opposite poles of a single scale:
Human Motivation
Egoism
Altruism
The premise is that an increase in egoism automatically
results in a decrease in altruism, and vice versa.
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(c) Lawrence M. Hinman
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Reconceptualizing
Psychological Egoism, 2
Instead of seeing this one a single scale, we can see egoism
and altruism as two independent axes:
Conceptualizing the issue in
this way allows some
actions to be done both for
the sake of others and for
one’s own sake, and avoids
falling into a false
dichotomy between altruism
and egoism.
However, an additional
distinction remains to be
draw.
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High
Altruism
Low
Egoism
(c) Lawrence M. Hinman
High
Egoism
Low
Altruism
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Reconceptualizing
Psychological Egoism, 3
In addition to having two independent axes, we must
distinguish between the intentions of actions and their
consequences. Thus we get two graphs:
Intentions
Consequences
Strongly intended to help others
High beneficial To others
Not
intended
to benefit
self
Strongly
intended
to benefit
self
Highly
harmful
to self
Strongly intended to harm others
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(c) Lawrence M. Hinman
Highly
beneficial
to self
Highly harmful to others
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Reconceptualizing
Psychological Egoism, 4
This double grid suggests that any given
action can be ranked according to both:
– Intentions
– Consequences
And that, for each of these two issues, each
act can be ranked along two independent
axes, concern/consequences for self and
concern/consequences for other.
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(c) Lawrence M. Hinman
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Ethical Egoism

Selfishness is extolled
as a virtue
– Ayn Rand, The Virtue of
Selfishness


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May appeal to
psychological egoism
as a foundation
Often very compelling
for high school
students
(c) Lawrence M. Hinman
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Versions of Ethical Egoism

Personal Ethical Egoism
– “I am going to act only in my own interest, and
everyone else can do whatever they want.”

Individual Ethical Egoism
– “Everyone should act in my own interest.”

Universal Ethical Egoism
– “Each individual should act in his or her own
self interest.”
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(c) Lawrence M. Hinman
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Arguments for Ethical Egoism



Altruism is demeaning.
Acting selfishly creates a better
world.
It doesn’t result in such a different
world after all.
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(c) Lawrence M. Hinman
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Altruism Is Demeaning
Friedrich Nietzsche and other
philosophers argued that
altruism was demeaning
because it meant that an
individual was saying that
some other person was more
important than that
individual. Nietzsche saw
this as denigrating oneself,
putting oneself down by
valuing oneself less than the
other. This, the heart of
altruism, is demeaning in
Nietzsche’s eyes.
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(c) Lawrence M. Hinman
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Acting Selfishly Creates a
Better World

Ethical egoists sometimes maintain
that if each person took care of
himself/herself, the overall effect
would be to make the world a better
place for everyone.
– Each person is best suited to know his
or her own best interests.
– Helping others makes them dependent,
which ultimately harms them.
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(c) Lawrence M. Hinman
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Ethical egoism doesn’t result in
such a different world after all.


This argument presupposes the
people in fact already act selfishly
(i.e, psychological egoism) and are
just pretending to be altruistic.
If psychological egoism is true, then
we should admit its truth and get rid
of our hypocrisy.
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Criticisms of Ethical Egoism

Cannot be consistently universalized
– Kalin: This works in sports.



Presupposes a world of strangers
indifferent to one another.
Difficult to imagine love or even
friendship from the altruist’s
standpoint.
Seems to be morally insensitive
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(c) Lawrence M. Hinman
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Universalizing Ethical Egoism

Can the ethical egoist consistently will
that everyone else follow the tenets of
ethical egoism?
– It seems to be in one’s self-interest to be
selfish oneself and yet get everyone else to act
altruistically (especially if they act for your
benefit). This leads to individual ethical
egoism.

Some philosophers such as Jesse Kalin
have argued that in sports we consistently
universalize ethical egoism: we intend to
win, but we want our opponents to try as
hard as they can!
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(c) Lawrence M. Hinman
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Ethical Egoism:
a philosophy for a world of strangers

Some philosophers have argued that
ethical egoism is, at best,
appropriate to living in a world of
strangers that you do not care about.
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(c) Lawrence M. Hinman
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Ethical Egoism and Friendship

Can ethical egoists be good friends?
– If friendship involves (among other
things) being concerned about other
people for their own sake, then this
seems something beyond the reach of
the egoist.
– Ethical egoists can help their friends if
they believe there is a long-term payoff
for doing so.
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(c) Lawrence M. Hinman
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Ethical Egoism and
Moral Sensitivity

Can the ethical egoist be sensitive to
the suffering of others?
– Such sensitivity seems to presuppose
caring about other people for their own
sake.
– Moral sensitivity presupposes that the
suffering of others exerts a moral “pull”
on the individual—something that the
ethical egoist does not recognize.
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(c) Lawrence M. Hinman
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The Truths in Ethical Egoism



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Sometimes self-interest
masquerades as altruism
Ethical egoism mistakes a part of the
picture for the whole picture
Ethics should not deny the
importance of self-interest
Self-love is a virtue, but it is not the
only virtue
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(c) Lawrence M. Hinman
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Egoism, Altruism, and
the Ideal World



Ideally, we seek a society in
which self-interest and regard
for others converge—the green
zone.
Egoism at the expense of
others and altruism at the
expense of self-interest both
create worlds in which
goodness and self-regard are
mutually exclusive—the yellow
zone.
No one want the red zone,
which is against both selfinterest and regard for others.
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Kant
High
Altruism
Self-sacrificing
altruism
Low
Egoism
Not beneficial
either to self
or others
(c) Lawrence M. Hinman
Aristotle
Self-interest
and regard
for others
converge
High
Egoism
Self-interest
at the expense
of others
Low
Altruism
Hobbes
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