Transcript Egoism

Egoism
Plato: “The Myth of Gyges” from The
Republic
Glaucon – the case against being
just.
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Morality is a necessary evil. If we had the
power to do whatever we liked without
fear of punishment, we would not act
morally.
The just man is not essentially different
than the unjust man. Both the just and
the unjust man would act the same given
the chance.
Glaucon Argument(continued)
Being just is not as important as appearing
just.
 Attaining justice is fraught with difficulty. It
is easy and rewarding to be unjust.
 Challenge presented to Socrates in the
dialogue – isn’t it better to be an unjust
man rather than a just one.
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Psychological Egoism
Psychological egoism is as much a theory
about who we are as human beings as it is
a theory of how we ought to act. It is an
attempt to give one simple explanation of
human motivation and behavior.
 Psychological Egoism: the theory that
every human action is motivated by selfinterest.
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Psych. Egoism (continued)
To state that individuals are driven by selfinterest is not to prove it to be the case.
 Basic Test: take any virtue or apparently
selfless act, and see if it is possible to
reinterpret in terms of self-interest.
 Problem: that fact that such a
reinterpretation is possible does not make
it true.
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The Case for Psychological
Egoism
Argument 1: We always do what we most
want to do.
 Response 1: It is clearly false that we only
do things that we want to do.
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Argument 2: We do only that which makes
us feel good. All so-called un-selfish acts
produce a feeling of self-satisfaction, and
this is the actual reason why we engage in
the unselfish act.
 Response 1: Deriving satisfaction ≠ acting
selfishly.
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Response 2: Why would someone derive
satisfaction from helping others?
 Answer: You are the kind of person who
cares about what happens to others. If you
were doing action for personal prestige,
you would not derive satisfaction from the
action – but it is already assumed that you
are deriving satisfaction from the action.
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General confusions by advocate
of psychological egoism.
As has been mentioned self-interest ≠
selfish
 Self-interested behavior ≠ pleasurable
behavior
 Concern for ones well-being is
incompatible with a concern for others.
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Attraction of Psychological
Egoism
Theoretical simplicity (note: common in
economic theory)
 Psychological egoism is irrefutable.
 Problem: Its strength is also its weakness.
It lacks the general principle of being
falsifiable (un-testable). Once it is
accepted that everyone acts from selfinterest, every action can be interpreted as
self-interested.
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Ethical Egoism
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Underlying assumption of most morality: we
have “natural” duties to help others simply
because they are people who could be helped or
harmed by what we do.
Ethical egoism holds that we have no natural
duties to others.
Ethical egoism: the normative ethical theory that
holds that each person ought to pursue his or
her own self-interest. Our only duty is our duty to
ourselves.
What ethical egoism does not claim
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Does not require that we consider our
interests and the interests of others.
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Does not say that we should avoid helping
others.
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Does not imply that pursuing our interests
is always what we want to do.
Egoism vs. Altruism
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Altruism is self-defeating
We know our own needs well, but we only
know the needs of others imperfectly.
 Looking out for others is an intrusion of
people’s privacy.
 “Charity” is degrading to others.
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Egoism vs. Altruism (2)
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Argument against altruism:
1)We ought to do what promotes everyone’s
interests
2) Best way to promote everyone’s interests is to act
as an egoist
3)Therefore, We should each pursue our interests
exclusively
Ayn Rand’s Argument (3)
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To value the individual, we cannot expect them to
sacrifice it for others.
1) A person’s life is of supreme importance
2) Altruism regards the life of the individual as something one must
be ready to sacrifice for others.
3) Therefore, altruism does not take seriously the value of the
human individual.
4) Ethical egoism allows each person to value his or her own life as
being of ultimate value.
5) Therefore, ethical egoism is the philosophy we ought to accept.
Response to Rand’s Argument
False dichotomy – individual life has all
value (egoism) or individual life has no
value (altruism).
 We do not have to hold exclusively to one
extreme or the other-can hold a position
in-between.
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Positive Argument for Egoism
Ethical Egoism is compatible with
common-sense morality: ethical egoism is
a way of organizing a number of moral
principles (simplifying principle akin to a
scientific theory e=mc2 .
 Response: 1) At best E.E. proves that it is
usually or mostly to one’s advantage to
follow certain moral principles, 2) Does not
really prove that the only or most basic
reason for doing something is egoism
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External Criticism of Ethical
Egoism
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Egoism justifies what we take to be wicked
acts.
-Not an objection the egoist will find compelling.
-Egoist is not concerned with justifying our
current moral intuitions.
Internal Criticism of the Theory
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Cannot handle conflicts of interest
-Egoist Response: Only troubling if we believe that
ethics must resolve conflicts such that all can live
together harmoniously.
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Ethical egoism is unacceptably arbitrary.
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Me vs. everyone else.