Chapter 5: ETHICAL EGOISM

Ethical Egoism & Conflicts of Interest

- A "conflict of interest" occurs when people's interests conflict with each other (e.g. two people want the same thing and can't both have it) - Argument: Ethics is suppose to be about resolving such conflicts, but ethical egoism fails to do so. It tells people to fight it out - Rachels: Objection doesn't work because the ethical egoist could just reply that he doesn't conceive of ethics as a way of resolving conflicts (Ethical Egoism)

Psychological Egoism

- According to Psychological Egoism, we may believe ourselves to be noble and self-sacrificing, but that is only an illusion. In reality, we care only for ourselves. - The claim (based on observation) that it is FUNDAMENTALLY "human nature" to act out of self-interest. - Self-sacrificing acts of ALTRUISM contradict this claim, so a psychological egoist must re-imagine these in terms of selfish motives. (Ethical Egoism)

Incoherence of Ethical Egoism

- Argument: it is wrong to stop someone from doing what he in fact ought to do - The case of D & R: Ethical egoism tells R to stop D (because it is in R's interest) but also tells R not to stop D (b/c that would stop D from doing what D should do) - Rachels: objection doesn't work because the ethical egoist doesn't have to accept the assumption at the beginning of the argument (77) (Ethical Egoism)

Arbitrary of Ethical Egoism

- Basic rule: we may not draw arbitrary distinctions between persons - Ethical egoism violates this rule by drawing an arbitrary distinction between myself (who I should always help) and the rest of the world (who doesn't count) - Rachels: this objection works (Ethical Egoism)

Difference between Psychological Egoism and Ethical Egoism

- Ethical Egoism claims that each person ought to pursue his or her own self-interest exclusively. Psychological Egoism, by contrast, asserts that each person does in fact pursue his or her own self-interest exclusively. (65) - Psychological Egoism makes a claim about human nature, or about the way things are; Ethical Egoism makes a claim about morality, or about the way things should be. (66) - Psychological egoism is the idea that all men are selfish, and that we only do things for our own self-interests. - Ethical egoism is the idea that people ought to only do things for their self-interests, and that we should only feel obligated to do things for ourselves, regardless of the effect it may have on others. (Ethical Egoism)

Another Argument for Ethical Egoism

- Ethical egoism just restates commonsense morality - e.g. "Honesty is the best policy." "What goes around comes around." ^ If we follow commonsense moral rules, we will make ourselves well-off - Rachels' Argument: it gets moral reasoning wrong; we should be reasoning about how to help others, not just ourselves (Ethical Egoism)

Paradox of Egoism

- Friendship is one of the great human goods, but true friendship involves willingness to sacrifice one's self-interest for one's friend - An ethical egoist can never do this, so by trying to exclusively advance his own good, he cuts himself off from an important part of the human good (Ethical Egoism)

Why Accept Psychological Egoism?

- Simplicity - Self-interest is a strong motivator of humans; why not suppose it is the only interest? - Theory is practical and realistic, not naive (Ethical Egoism)

Ethical Egoism

- The belief that we should do what is necessary to help others. - The claim based on reasoning that everyone SHOULD only act out of self-interest - Our only moral duty is to ourselves individually. - Self-sacrificing acts of ALTRUISM flaunt this duty, so an ethical egoist would critique such actions as weak and cowardly. (Ethical Egoism)

Alturism

- The positive belief that we can do good in the world by treating others with respect and helping each other if you can. (Ethical Egoism)

Gyges' Ring thought experiment

- The set up: A shepherd finds a ring that makes him invisible. He proceeds to murder the king of the land, seduce and marry the queen and seize absolute power over the realm using that power. - The point: Suppose you had access to some power that permitted you to do whatever you wanted, without getting punished. You would be like a "god among men"... Or would you nonetheless refrain from using that power, for the sake of morality? (Ethical Egoism)

Argument for Psychological Egoism

- We always do whatever we most want to do, so out actions are clearly self-interested - Rachels: No, we don't always do what we most want. Sometimes we override out wants in favor of what we knows to be right - Rachels: Even when we do what we want, what we want is sometimes altruistic (Ethical Egoism)

Another Argument for Psychological Egoism

- We always do whatever will make us feel good. We are pleasure-seeking beings, so we always act out of self-interest - Strategy of reinterpreting motives ^ People sometimes seem to act altruistically, but if one looks deeper, they may find that something else is going on - Abraham Lincoln rescuing the pig from drowning because he would have thought about it all day if he had not; gave him peace of mind (69) Rachels: Even if we do have a self-interested motive, that does not rule out the existence of an altruistic motive. Often our motives have nothing to do with feeling good. We may feel good as a side effect, but feeling good was not the motive. (Ethical Egoism)

Ethical Egoism Clarifications

- You should act exclusively in your own interest - This does not mean you cannot help others, if helping them will advance your own interest - Look to long term (not just short term) interest - It is not merely acceptable to act only in your own interest, it's morally required. - Altruistic behavior is immoral. (Ethical Egoism)

Three Arguments against Ethical Egoism

1. Ethical Egoism Endorses Wickedness (76) 2. Ethical Egoism Is Logically Inconsistent (77) - False because Ethical Egoist would simply reject this additional premise and thereby avoid the contradiction. Ethical Egoist would never say, without qualification, that it is always wrong to prevent someone from doing his duty. He would say, instead, that whether one ought to prevent someone from doing his duty depends entirely on whether it would be to one's own advantage to do so. And so, this attempt to convict the egoist of self-contradiction fails. 3. Ethical Egoism Is Unacceptably Arbitrary (79) (Ethical Egoism)

3 Arguments for Ethical Egoism

1. It helps people in need and when you need to help them. 2. We as human beings need to be kind to others in our time of need. 3. It is also in debate whenever it is in our nature to even help people. (Ethical Egoism)

Ayn Rand

An author and personal activist of the theory of Alturism and Ethical Egoism. (Ethical Egoism)

Rachels Argument Against Rand

Ayn Rand's Argument - The "Virtue of Selfishness" - Ethical egoism is the only theory that takes the "individual" seriously - Altruism interferes with this project and undermines one's status as an individual - But, it is not in our interest as social beings to exploit, enslave, or otherwise harm other people Rachel's Counter Argument - There is some truth in her view; we could try to better ourselves - But, we can sometimes sacrifice some of that project in order to help others along the way; Rand's view is too extreme (Ethical Egoism)

One always does what one most desires to do

Contrast argument: - Somethings are done because we ought to, not desire to do -Acting on desire does not entail, looking out for self. It depends on the desire. (Ethical Egoism)

One always does what makes one feel good.

Contrast argument: -Self interest and benevolence are not mutually exclusive -Some acts of benevolence lack self interested motives entirely -The feeling of satisfaction is a product, not the object of desire (Ethical Egoism)

Altruism is self defeating because we know the interests of others imperfectly; because its is degrading.

Counter argument: - Non-interference is an altruistic principle because it is in your interest for me not to interfere (Ethical Egoism)

Altruism devalues the individual; penalizes virtue to reward vice (the person who is helping)

Counter argument: - This argument suggests altruism and EE are mutually exclusive; but there is a middle ground (Ethical Egoism)

EE is compatible with common sense morality. All common sense duties are derived from self interest. ( helps us all to get along reasonably)

Counter argument: -Altruism is not always to ones benefit -Self interest maybe a reason but not the only one (Ethical Egoism)

Odd Consequence of Ethical Egoism

It would not be in the ethical egoist's interest to let anyone know that he or she was an ethical egoist, so he should go around pretending to be altruistic (Ethical Egoism)

James Rachels argues that

PSYCHOLOGICAL EGOISM fails as an empirical doctrine. (Ethical Egoism)

Basic Question of Ethical Egoism

Question - What do we owe to ourselves, and what do we owe to others? Answer - Everything to ourselves, nothing to others (Ethical Egoism)

The Righteous Among the Nations

The Israeli government recognizes over 22,000 Gentiles who risked their lives trying to save Jews from being murdered in the Holocaust. (67) - also called The Righteous Among the Gentiles (Ethical Egoism)

We Always Do What We Want to Do

This an inherent belief that is against the basic principles of Altturism and Ethical Egoism. (Ethical Egoism)

Holocaust

When Altruism was in full swing and a Swedish banker helped Jewish people escape from the Holacoust. (67) (Ethical Egoism)