Philosophy Final

Criticisms of Utilitarianism

"A doctrine for swine" - a moral philosophy based in pleasure No actions inherently bad (not even torture or murder), because morality depends on the consequences Difficult to accurately calculate consequences Majority ethics allows society to sacrifice individual good for the social good

Nietzsche Key Quotes

"A person's valuations reveal something about the structure of his soul and what the soul sees as its conditions of life, its genuine needs." (Beyond Good and Evil, 164) "Life is essentially a process of appropriating, injuring, overpowering the alien and the weaker, oppressing, being harsh, imposing your own form, incorporating, and at least, the very least, exploiting." (Beyond Good and Evil, 153)

Morality

"Every thing in nature works in accordance with laws." (Foundation for the Metaphysics of Morals, p. 29) Morality should be studied like physics—look for universal laws, like the law of gravity. Determine whether someone is good by examining their "will"—does their will follow universal moral laws?

Moral Relativism Defended

"Morality arises when a group of people reach an implicit agreement or come to a tacit understanding about their relations with one another . . . Moral judgments make sense only in relation to and with reference to one or another such agreement or understanding." (Introducing Philosophy, p. 501)

Truth In Development

Each individual perspective or cultural world view has some element of truth History is moving towards truth and absolute knowing by trying out different perspectives in individual and cultural consciousness Through a dialectical process of conflict and confrontation between different perspectives, humans move closer towards absolute knowing

Happiness

Every act is for the sake of something else. But because there can be no infinite regress, there must be an end. What is the natural end that is the natural good for man? Aristotle claimed that it was happiness.

Nietzsche Key Ideas:

Perspectivism Complexity and depth of self Corruption and Decay in Western Civilization Possibility for new forms of human beings—ubermenschen Life is the will to power Morality is derived from social context, class, history Equality is a dangerous myth Create your life as a work of art

Implications: Many Truths?

Practically speaking, humans experience the world in many different ways, and draw different conclusions about reality. The Truth seems to be destined to be replaced by many truths. Kant rejected this idea because he believed that there was only one possible set of fundamental rules and therefore only one objective way of constituting our experience.

Two Confucian Philosophers debated human nature:

Mencius argued we are naturally compassionate and benevolent, while Xunzi argued that we are naturally selfish.

Natural Law

Moral law as it is claimed to inhere in nature Aquinas: "It is apparent that things prescribed by divine law are right, not only because they are put forth by law, but also because they are in accord with nature." Natural law arguments are often used in contemporary ethical debates, such as homosexuality

Morality as "Coming from Above"

Moral laws are often said to come from God. They are often taught to us by our parents, who literally "stand above us." Morality is "above" any one individual or group of individuals.

The Origins of Virtue

Moral virtues are developed through hard work and practice. Virtues are habits of thinking, feeling, and acting built into the characters of humans who choose to develop virtues instead of vices. Moral Virtues result from the Rational part of our Psyche guiding our appetites and desires (see next slide)

What Is Morality?

Morality gives us the rules by which we live with others. Morality tells us what is permitted and what is not.

Kant's Ethics: The Basics

Morality must be based solely on reason. Its central concept is the concept of duty (dein), and so morality is a matter of deontology. Morality must be autonomous, a function of individual reason, such that every rational person is capable of finding out what is right and what is wrong for himself or herself. All personal feelings, desires, impulses, and emotions are inclinations. Morality is independent of inclination.

The Problem of Moral Relativism

Morality varies between cultures and people. But morality is supposed to be a set of universal principles that should apply to all cultures and all people. How can we justify making judgments about other societies' morals? This is the problem of relativism.

Jean-Paul Sartre: Key Works

Nausea Transcendence of the Ego No Exit The Flies Being and Nothingness Critique of Dialectical Reason Search for a Method The Words Existence precedes essence Humans are condemned to be free in a world without absolutes Seek authenticity Sartre wrote plays, short stories, and autobiography, in addition to his works of philosophy Sartre was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1964, but he refused to accept the prize

Aristotle's Ethics

Nicomachean Ethics emphasizes individual virtue and excellence as the foundation for the good life. Politics and Ethics study the good life for human beings Virtues are positive character traits that are cultivated through choice and practice

Nietzsche on Moral Values

Nietzsche did not believe that every human "nature" was the same; different individuals will find and follow different values, different moralities. "Follow yourself, don't follow me."

Master Morality

Originates with the powerful "Good" associated with nobility, power, truthfulness, glory "Bad" associated with weakness, inferiority, despicableness Celebration of the self, origins, traditions Refinement in friendship, creativity

Slave Morality

Originates with the weak "herd" "Good" associated with the humble, dutiful, industrious "Evil" associated with the powerful, the dangerous, the unknown Denial of the self, desire for freedom Skepticism, mistrust, utility, resentment alongside

coherence theory

a proposition is made true by its coherence within a unified, interdependent system of beliefs. Truth is thus a relational property within a certain context or system.

correspondence theory

a proposition is made true by its correspondence to reality. E.g., "Global warming is real" is true because the earth is warming.

pragmatic theory

a proposition is made true by its practical consequences. The test of truth is what solves problems and answers questions For Charles Peirce, "The opinion which is fated to be ultimately agreed to by all who investigate, is what we mean by the truth." (Introducing Philosophy, 260-261)

Analytic Proposition

is a logical truth or one that can be turned into a logical truth by substituting synonyms for synonyms.

Synthetic Proposition

is a proposition that is not analytic, but rather based in experience and observation, e.g. scientific claims about the world

Copernican Revolution" in Philosophy

place the rational human subject at center of experience and morality

Kant Key Works

His philosophical system, embodied in three huge volumes called Critique of Pure Reason (1781), Critique of Practical Reason (1788), and Critique of Judgment (1790), changed the thinking of philosophers.

Kant Key Ideas

-Reason can know certain truths prior to experience -Objective truths within the limits of human perception, but not beyond -Seek universal laws of philosophy, like in science

John Stuart Mill

1806-1873 Born in London, England Son of the philosopher James Mill Continued the development of the Utilitarian Philosophy created by his father and Jeremy Bentham Intellectual feats by age ten would have been to the credit of most scholars at age sixty. Suffered nervous breakdown in 1826 at twenty and turned attention from the "hard" sciences to philosophy, poetry, and political reform. Best known for his moral and political writings On Liberty (1859) and Utilitarianism (1861).

Ruth Benedict

1887-1948 American Anthropologist "Anthropology and the Abnormal" published in 1934 Argued that moral good is simply a culture's definition of normal, or socially approved habits Possible for researchers to discover common moral foundations across cultures

Jean-Paul Sartre

1905-1980 French philosopher and writer Intellectual and romantic partner with Simone de Beauvoir Existentialist Public Intellectual Contemporary French philosopher who trained in phenomenology, the style of Edmund Husserl, but who developed that philosophy to his own radical ends. Generally regarded as the main proponent of the philosophy of existentialism. Sartre's existentialism was a moral philosophy as well as a philosophy of freedom.

Ayn Rand

1905-1982, Russian-American author and philosopher, was a staunch advocate of egoism

Utilitarianism

A conception of morality developed by Jeremy Bentham, James Mill, and his son John Stuart Mill. Principle of Utility: Act to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number of people, where good is defined by pleasure and happiness. Utilitarians wished to consider the consequences of an action to determine what is morally right.

Elizabeth Grosz

Born in Australia, where she earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy Professor at SUNY Buffalo and Duke University Studies feminism and French philosophy Radical feminists expand the criteria of truth and follow a third way between objectivism and relativism Perspectivism holds that all discourses represent a point of view deserving of consideration No one method to find truth Not all perspectives are equally worthy—examine values of each point of view Focus on the social context of knowledge There is no "transcendental subject" free of personal, social, political, and moral interests Avoid simple dichotomies—subject/object, truth/falsity, right/wrong—in favor of continuums of differences

Uma Narayan

Born in India, Ph.D. from Rutgers University Professor of Philosophy at Vassar College Expands feminism and philosophy to include diverse perspectives of non-Western women Feminist Epistemology studies how our gender affects our experiences and ways of knowing the world Oppressed groups may or may not have an "epistemic advantage" in knowing their own perspective and also the perspective of the dominant group Sometimes oppression simply limits knowledge and understanding

Aristotle, 384-322 BCE

Born in northern Greece Student of Plato at the Academy Taught at the Academy Tutored Alexander the Great Founded the Lyceum, a school of philosophy, in Athens, 335 BCE Wrote works on philosophy, logic, biology, and aesthetics

Immanuel Kant

1724-1804 Born in Konigsberg, Prussia Strict religious upbringing Devout, yet sought a rational foundation for philosophy University professor in Königsburg for 30 years Never married; neighbors said that his habits were so regular that they could set their watches by him (a later German poet said, "It is hard to write about Kant's life, for he had no life").

The Kantian Synthesis Cont.

According to Kant, the mind is an information processor. It takes raw sense experience and brings it under certain concepts (like causality).

Higher Morality

According to Nietzsche, the concept of moral duty is fit for servants and slaves, but such a morality is wholly inadequate to motivate us to personal excellence and achievement. An unabashed elitist: only a few people are capable of "higher" morality; for the rest, the "slave morality" of duty would have to suffice. One should develop one's own virtues and become excellent in as many ways as possible, but the excellence of the individual is part of and contributes to the excellence of mankind as a whole.

A-priori vs. A-posteriori Propositions

An a-priori proposition is one that can be known prior to or independently of sense experience. An a-posteriori proposition is one that can only be known after one has acquired sense experience

Thought Probe: Constructing Reality

Are scientific laws invented or discovered? The traditional view: scientific laws exist "out there" in the world and science discovers them. Kant's view: "The order and regularity of the appearance we entitle nature, we ourselves introduce." For Kant, reality is a human construct. Which view do you think is correct? Why?

God and morality

Different people seem to think that God has given us different commands. Should we follow God's laws because they are God's laws or because they are good?

Existentialism: Key Themes

Concrete Individual existence "Existence before essence" No Absolutes Subjectivity and Consciousness Individual freedom Choice and Commitment Limits of Rationality Dread, Anxiety, Anguish Artistic and Literary expression

Moral Virtues

Courage Temperance/Moderation Honesty Generosity Justice Pride Friendliness

Morality as Virtue: Aristotle

For Aristotle, morality and the good life are based in virtue—positive character traits. Aristotle's conception of virtue is based on the idea that humans are rational beings. Thus, for Aristotle, virtue is a rational activity that promotes human well-being and flourishing.

Reason & Freedom

For Hegel, history moves towards Reason and Freedom The structure of Reality contains an impulse to greater self-awareness by Spirit Attaining Truth and Knowledge is attaining Freedom Though history is bloody and difficult, Hegel believes that it moves in the direction of Reason, Truth, and Freedom

Categorical Imperative: Formula 1

For a rule to be moral, you must be able to accept everyone acting on it. Moral or categorical imperatives provide universal laws that tell us what to do in every circumstance. With hypothetical imperatives, on the other hand, what is commanded depends on particular circumstances. Act only in accordance with that maxim [rule] through which you can at the same time will that it become a universal law." (FMM, 37)

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)

Founding father of utilitarianism His principle of utility (one should act to produce the greatest good for the greatest number of people) influenced the English legal system of his day. His best-known work is Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789).

Rousseau

French philosopher Influence on Enlightenment ideals of equality and democracy Believed that humans were naturally good in a state of nature, and were corrupted by society Natural goodness is the basis of morality

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

German philosopher who declared himself the arch-enemy of traditional morality and Christianity and spent much of his life writing polemics against them; most vicious attack is in his book, Antichrist (1888). Although he is generally known as an immoralist (a name he chose for himself), Nietzsche's moral philosophy is an attack on one conception of morality to replace it with another: a supposedly "higher" concept of morality and human possibility.

Johann Gottlieb Fichte

German philosopher, 1762-1814 Student of Immanuel Kant, who turned Kant's "transcendental" philosophy into a practically oriented and relativistic "ethical idealism." He taught that "the kind of philosophy a man chooses depends upon the kind of man he is." (Introducing Philosophy, p. 276)

G.W.F. Hegel

German philosopher, 1770-1831 Focused on truth as the whole Viewed individual self as part of larger self or Spirit Sought grounds for absolute knowing beyond the limits of individual points of view Saw philosophy and human civilization as undergoing historical change and progress

Friedrich Nietzsche

German philosopher, 1844-1900 Attacked traditional notions of truth and knowledge Many different worldviews, no one Truth "There are no facts, only interpretations." (Introducing Philosophy, p. 286) Obsession with truth is a kind of pathology The best life is passionate and creative, where one thinks for oneself and creates one's own values Fundamental principle of life is The Will to Power—the drive to live, thrive, and create

The Nicomachean Ethics, Book I

Happiness is a kind of "living well and acting well" and is an "activity in accord with virtue." (Nicomachean Ethics, p. 14) Virtues are positive character traits gained through learning, habit, practice

Happiness and Reason

Happiness is what humans desire for its own sake and is the natural good for people. Happiness, for Aristotle, was living according to rationality, the exercise of our most vital faculties. The good for humans is that which is "natural". What is "natural" to humans is rationality. Action according to rational principles is what Aristotle thought virtue was. Thus, happiness is an "activity of the soul in accordance with perfect virtue."

Utilitarianism and Pleasure

Hedonism: the good life in which ultimate good is pleasure; in the final analysis we want and ought to want this pleasure. Traditional hedonism is concerned with one's personal pleasure; utilitarianism is concerned with pleasure of one's own and of others. Central principle is often summarized as "the greatest good for the greatest number." The procedure we use to implement the principle of utility is called the happiness calculus.

Mill Responds to Criticisms

Humans are capable of Higher pleasures along with lower pleasures. Ethical action seeks to maximize Higher pleasures. Individual Liberty must be protected against the "Tyranny of the Majority" Actions like murder can be prohibited by Utilitarianism because the social consequences of allowing such actions create more pain in the long run

Morality and Sentiment: Hume

Hume: "reason is and ought to be the slave of the passions." Reason can assist in acquiring our desires but not in determining our desires. Cannot derive "ought" from "is"

What leads to the Good Life?

In Aristotle's day and today, many people believe that wealth, fame, or pleasure lead to happiness. While these may be good things, only virtue leads to a life of happiness.

The Euthyphro Problem

In Plato's dialogue, Euthyphro, Socrates challenged a fervent religious believer named Euthyphro to define rightness/goodness Is an action right because God commands it to be done, or does God command it to be done because it's right? According to the first alternative, God can command anything, and the definition of good is based on God's whim According to the second alternative, morality does not depend on God.

Explaining the Rules

Knowledge is only knowledge of our experience, and we can be certain of the rules of our own experience. Reality is the world of experience as we constitute it through the concepts of our understanding; the world is real because we constitute it as the way that it is. Thus, a belief can be true, necessarily true, if it is one of those rules that we impose to constitute our experience.

Problems with Bentham's Theory

It can be used to morally justify actions that many of us consider to be immoral, such as a secret but adulterous "fling" in a marriage. Suppose many people would get a great deal of pleasure out of seeing some innocent person tortured and slaughtered. The victim would suffer a great deal of pain, but by increasing the size of the crowd we could eventually obtain an amount of pleasure on the part of everyone else that more than balanced the suffering of the victim.

Objections to Kant's Conception of Morality

It may be too strict: the idea that morality and duty have nothing to do with our personal desires or inclinations seems to make the moral life undesirable. Kant's emphasis on the categorical imperative systematically rules out all reference to particular situations and circumstances, but the right thing to do is often determined by the particular context or situation. Kant gives us no adequate way of choosing between moral imperatives that conflict. The rule that tells us "don't lie!" is categorical; so is the rule that tells us "keep your promises!" Suppose I promise not to tell anyone where you will be this weekend. Then someone who wants to kill you tries to force me to tell. Either I break the promise, or I lie. Kant gives us no solution to this moral conflict.

Against Egoism

Joseph Butler, 1692-1752, English Bishop Butler argued that private good and social good are almost always in harmony Natural principles of benevolence and affection connect us to others

The Kantian Synthesis

Kant agrees with Hume that the claim that like causes will produce like effects is synthetic because it's not true by definition. Yet he believes that it can be known a-priori because it makes objective experience (experience of objects) possible. Kant argues that we can know synthetic a-priori truths—the rules that structure our experience

Kant: We Constitute Reality via Necessary Rules

Kant attempted to prove that these concepts are necessary and a priori. Truth is not a correspondence between ideas and reality but rather our own system of rules by which we constitute our reality. For Kant, everyone constitutes reality in the same fundamental ways (causation, time, and other rules) that make objective knowledge possible

The Good Will

Kant began by saying that what is ultimately good is a good will. And a good will, in turn, is the will that exercises pure practical reason. What we will, that is, what we try to do, is wholly within our control. And reason serves the purpose of instructing our will in our duty. "The notion of duty includes that of a good will." A good will subjects itself to rational principles. Those rational principles are moral laws, and it is action in accordance with such laws that alone makes a person good.

structure of truth and the world

Kant rejected the distinction between language and the world and thus between us and Truth. He believed that our "ideas"—our concepts and language—"set up" the world. The possibility of experience and truth depends on certain discoverable and definable mental structures.

Escaping Skepticism

Kant's central thesis was the defense of what he called synthetic a priori judgments (and their moral and religious equivalents) by showing their necessity for all human experience. In this way, Kant escaped from Hume's skepticism and avoided the dead-end intuitionism of his rational predecessors

Greatest Happiness Principle:

Right and Wrong is measured by the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people

Individual Relativism

Right is relative to each individual based on what is approved by that person. No absolute right or wrong. Problem: conflicts with our experience of the moral life: It makes us morally infallible. It makes moral disagreement next to impossible. It sanctions obviously immoral actions, like slavery.

Morality and Sentiment: Rousseau

Rousseau: sentiment is a kind of "natural reason" Conscience-a powerful moral feeling Problems: When in disagreement, what standard adjudicates? In agreement, how can we know we are correct?

Sartre: No Human Essence

Sartre's existentialism denied that there was any such thing as "human nature" and therefore insisted that "man makes himself." Through our various choices and moral commitments we deem what we want humanity to be. According to Sartre, we do not simply find moral principles on which we should act, but rather we choose those moral principles through our acting.

Free Moral Action

Sartre's moral philosophy places most of its emphasis on action in the absence of absolute or universal standards of morality. It minimizes the importance of moral deliberation and all that sort of moralizing in which we simply talk about what is good rather than simply a "good will," as in Kant. In his novels and plays, Sartre's characters are always torn by alternative identities. They suffer just because they cannot make up their minds.

Intellectual Virtues

Scientific Knowledge Reason Wisdom Practical Wisdom Craft Knowledge

David Hume

Scottish philosopher Argued for empiricism (knowledge based in experience) and skepticism of absolutes Morality based in the passions, sentiments, and desires

Natural Law and Homosexuality

Some critics of homosexuality claim that it is "unnatural"—a violation of nature or natural law. Contemporary American philosopher John Corvino argues that "unnatural" is a vague term with various meanings. Those who claim homosexuality is unnatural are typically uncomfortable or offended, but don't have a clear moral argument.

Thought Probe: Objective Reality

Some philosophers and scientists argue that we can transcend our personal/social conceptual schemes and have a direct understanding of reality. Is such a direct understanding of objective reality possible? Why or why not?

Nietzsche key works:

The Birth of Tragedy The Gay Science Thus Spoke Zarathustra Beyond Good and Evil On the Genealogy of Morals Twilight of the Idols The Antichrist

The Nicomachean Ethics

The best life for human beings is a life of eudaimonia Eudaimonia: happiness, well-being, flourishing, living well

The Best Life for Humans

The best life of all is the life of contemplation, the life of a philosopher, for it is the most self-contained and the "closest to the gods." Such contemplation must be done concurrently with the pleasures of life, honor, wealth, and virtuous action.

Kant rejected direct realism

The doctrine that perception puts us in direct contact with reality. "Direct" because nothing comes between the world and our perception of it. "Realism" because there is an external world that is not affected by our thoughts.

Categorical Imperative: Formula 3

The realm of ends is Kant's ideal community, where everyone is a member and legislator of the moral laws while also being subject to the laws In the realm of ends, everyone freely chooses to follow universal moral laws, and everyone treats one another as ends in themselves The "realm of ends": a "systematic combination of various rational beings through communal laws." (FMM, 51)

The Categorical Imperative

The general formulation of Kant's notion of duty is the categorical imperative. Categorical imperatives demand that one simply "do this" or "don't do this," whatever the circumstances. The word that distinguishes moral commands in general is the word ought, and categorical imperatives tell us what we ought to do, independent of circumstances or goals. A maxim, according to Kant, is a "subjective principle of action," or what we would call an intention. It is distinguished from an "objective principle," that is, a universal law of reason. The categorical imperative is an a priori principle: Necessary Independent of particular circumstances True for all rational beings Test rules of behavior and see if they qualify as universal moral laws/rules of behavior Moral Laws are Universal (apply to everyone), Necessary (always apply), and Non-contradictory (not unacceptable if everyone acted according to the rule)

Nietzsche's Attack on Morality

The morality he attacked is the morality of traditional Christianity as defined by Kant and modern mass movements driven by a "herd instinct." The morality he sought to defend is the ancient morality of personal excellence, as defined by Aristotle and the Ancient Greeks. Nietzsche referred to the former as "slave morality," suggesting that it was suitable only for the weak and servile, and to the latter as "master morality," suggesting that it was the morality of the strong and independent few.

Transcendental Deduction

The transcendental deduction argument says that we can infer, from various statements that we believe, the basic rules of our experience. Example of a transcendental argument: "In order for x to obtain, we must presuppose y; x obtains; Therefore, y."

Four Key Ideas (A Truth "Policy")

Those claims that are rules by which we must interpret our experiences are true—necessarily true. Those claims that contradict rules by which we must interpret our experience are false—necessarily false. Those that are not rules by which we must interpret our experience are either analytic, contingently true, or contingently false. Finally, those claims that cannot be decided by appeal to the rules of our experience and make no difference to our experience are to be rejected as possible topics of knowledge.

Problems with Ethical Egoism

Those who believe in the theory can't advocate it—out of self-interest, an egoist could not recommend that others act on self-interest. E.g., Al the Egoist would only want others to act for Al's interests. It may accept discrimination and injustice against others. It has no motivation to treat equals equally or act with justice unless it serves one's own self-interest.

Categorical Imperative: Formula 2

Treating someone as a means is using them as an object or a thing; treating them as an ends is treating them with dignity, equality, and respect, as if they are just as valuable as you. Test rules by asking whether they lead us to treat people (including ourselves) as means or as ends. If they lead us to treat people as means, then they fail the test and are not moral laws. Act so that you use humanity, as much in your own person as in the person of every other, always at the same time as an end and never merely as means." (FMM, 46-47)

Virtue and Society

Virtue is a social conception and not limited to just the individual. Many of Aristotle's virtues have much to do with one's role in society. Happiness, therefore, also had social dimensions. Aristotle's conception of happiness (eudaimonia) is different than the modern conception. Happiness is more like "living well" or "flourishing."

The Golden Mean

Virtue is understood as a mean between two extremes: virtue is in the middle of two vices, one of excess and one of deficiency Examples: Courage is the mean between cowardice and rashness. Temperance is the mean between self-indulgence and insensitivity. Magnificence is the mean between vulgarity and miserliness. Pride is the mean between humility and vanity. Wittiness is the mean between buffoonery and boorishness.

Constitution of Experience

We constitute our own experience in the sense that we provide the rules and structures according to which we experience objects as governed by the laws of nature and the relations of cause and effect. We cannot understand reality outside of the way that we constitute it through our basic concepts, which Kant called categories: the basic rules of the human mind.

Virtue Ethics: Cultivating Good Habits

We learn by doing; for example, we become builders by building and lyre-players by playing the lyre. So too we become just by doing just actions, temperate by temperate actions, and courageous by courageous actions." (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 23)

The Appeal to Conscience

What are the demands of conscience? Where do these demands come from? Morality is doing what is right, whether commanded by any person or law and whether one "feels" it in one's conscience. Morality involves autonomy—the ability to think and decide (and act) for oneself what is right and wrong.

cultural relativism

What makes an action right is that it is approved by one's culture. In this view, individuals are not morally infallible, but cultures are.

Ethical Egoism

What makes an action right is that it promotes one's own best interest. In this view, one should only have a moral obligation to oneself.

consequentialist

defines good in the terms of consequences of actions

hedonistic

defining happiness in terms of pleasure

The Semantic Theory of Truth

does not attempt to explain how statements relate to reality The Semantic Theory of Truth sets up rules of "satisfaction" according to which sentences become true or false Focus on how language relates to the world

psychological egoism

the thesis that everyone always acts in their own interests