No, not Egotism, Egoism
Egoism
Read about Egoism at:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/egoism/
Two main theses to consider regarding Egoism:
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Psychological Egoism: Every human act is motivated
solely by self-interest
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Ethical Egoism: Every human act ought to be
motivated solely by self-interest
Note that PE is descriptive, EE is prescriptive
Psychological Egoism
Psychological Egoism (PE) is a premise in
Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan
Problem: How can PE (every human act is
motivated solely by self-interest) be true?
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Are there not altruistic people:
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Mother Teresa (church)
Pam Anderson (PETA)
Angelina Jolie (love of foreign children)
Greenpeace (Earth)?
Are there not principled (duty-regarding)
people:
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Servicemen and women (country)
police (society)
Mom and Dad (kids)?
PE recognizes both sorts of behavior, but
claims both are really (deep down)
motivated by selfish concerns
Psychological Egoism
Altruist’s reply: When a PETA
activist stands in the hot sun
in a chicken suit outside
McDonald’s, they’re
sacrificing for others (namely,
chickens)
PE reply: No. The PETA activist
stands in the sun to avoid
feeling guilty about not
helping the chickens
Psychological Egoism
Dutiful folk’s reply: When a
soldier falls on a grenade
to save buddies, he or she
is plainly motivated by
concern for others
PE reply: No. The soldier
knows he or she would feel
terrible for not sacrificing
for the others, and falls on
the grenade to avoid a life
of guilt
Psychological Egoism
Criticism 1 of PE
Guilt seems to presuppose concern for others
for their own sake. If it did not, why would we
feel guilty for letting them suffer (PETA
activist), or for letting them die (soldier)?
If guilt presupposes concern for others, then
concern for others is a motivating factor in
human action, and PE is false.
Psychological Egoism
PE reply to Criticism 1
People only feel guilt due to training or
conditioning. Therefore, any concern for
others that attends guilt is artificial.
Does that reply work?
Psychological Egoism
Criticism 2 of PE
PE’s replies might fit some cases …
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perhaps some soldiers jump on grenades to avoid dishonor
perhaps some activists skip the football game and picket KFC
to avoid guilt
perhaps some religious figures do good to avoid eternal
punishment
but why think those all soldiers, activist, religious folks are so
motivated?
Psychological Egoism is a Hasty Generalization
PE Reply to Criticism 2:
Standing Presumption should be on PE side.
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We know we act selfishly very often.
We don’t know we ever act altruistically.
If any examples of altruism proposed are possibly selfish,
that’s good evidence we are always acting selfishly, despite
appearances.
The Burden of Proof falls on Altruism
Does that reply work?
Criticism 3 of PE
Karl Popper (1902-1994)
suggested that a theory is
meaningful only if some
conceivable test could show it was
false: Falsifiability is required of any
“scientific theory”
Is PE a scientific theory? In the sense that it is a descriptive
theory, and not a normative theory, yes (it makes a claim
about how our minds work, not about how they should work).
Can PE be tested? Perhaps. Psychologists try to prove infants
are hardwired for altruism. Those studies, though, are
inconclusive to date.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/311/5765/1301.abstract
Desperation Reply of PE:
Look, we’re going around and around! Just think
about it … those examples of altruistic behavior
you like? They must be selfish deep down
because, after all, the agent wanted to do those
things. And if anything you do you must want to
do, that’s egoism!
Reply to Desperation Reply of PE:
No, no … that’s Trivial Egoism!
Of course, every action we choose to perform is an
action we “want” to perform, but that only means
perhaps 1% of a person’s motivation is self-interested.
It is possible the other 99% of motivation is concern
for others (people, animals, … any non-self things).
What PE must hold to avoid the label “trivial,” is that all
human acts are motivated 100% by self-interest.
Predominant Egoism?
If the psychological egoist
rejects the trivial version of PE, and
gives up proving motivation is 100% selfish
then PE has lost …
the alternative that follows from that admission, Predominant
Egoism, is philosophically uninteresting
There is nothing surprising or enlightening about
most motives being selfish
There are no interesting consequences for ethics
Conclusion for PE:
If training or conditioning is responsible for otherregarding desires or concerns, does that
immediately show PE is false, or is there
something to the idea that such are artificial?
Does the mere existence of such other-regarding
desires, who cares where they came from,
invalidate PE?
Ethical Egoism
Ethical Egoism (EE) says every human act ought
always be motivated solely by self-interest.
If PE were true, would Ethical Egoism (EE) even
be possible?
EE: we always ought to act selfishly. But if PE is
true, we psychologically must act that way. Can
we have an obligation to act in a way we must
act? That seems crazy.
Ethical Egoism
4 Reasons to Accept Ethical Egoism
1)
2)
3)
4)
Strongest possible connection between
acting morally and acting rationally.
EE, for Ayn Rand, Friedrich Nietzsche, others,
focuses on the indignity of being subservient
to others.
Acting selfishly makes for a better world;
altruism creates dependency.
Ethical Egoism does not really differ in
content much from Standard Moral Theories
(SMT)—Mill, Kant, Aristotle
Ethical Egoism
Reason 1: Strongest possible connection between acting
morally and acting rationally?
a)
b)
c)
Standard moral theories often have an uphill battle
getting folks to act on the theory’s principles as the
principles are cast in terms of limiting freedom. For
instance, generally:
Morality consists in striking the right balance between
Duty and Interest. (Many Ethics texts are titled “Duty and
Interest.”)
It would be convenient if all duties were really in our
interest due to a lack of obligation to be concerned about
others.
Ethical Egoism
Reason 2: (SMT are insulting) skip
Reason 3: (altruism creates moochers) skip
Think about them yourself; do they make sense to
you?
Are reasons 2 and 3 epistemic reasons (reasons
to think EE is true), or practical reasons
(reasons to accept it, live by it)?
Ethical Egoism
Reason 4 is defended with “The Cooperation
Defense”
Far-sighted selfishness leads us to be kind, generous,
friendly, forgiving, etc.—to cooperate with others—
and so EE is basically the same as conventional
morality or SMTs.
Ask yourself, on Ethical Egoist grounds,
1. What reason do I have to give to the homeless
person at the stop light?
2. Why will I not cheat on my spouse?
3. Etc.
Criticism of Ethical Egoism
A failing of the cooperation defense:
You are rowing a boat to safety after your cruise
ship sank and a desperate man a few yards off
is calling for help. There are no other survivors,
the man has no chance without you, and you
have no interest in saving him. EE suggests you
have no duty to save the man since any such
duty would have to be grounded in your having a
reason to act, and, as we’re supposing, you have
no interest in saving the man.
Could an ethical theory be correct
and permit such an action to count
as permissible?
Criticism of Ethical Egoism
EE is often criticized for failing to account for the
common moral values of
friendship (concern for an intimate other for her own sake)
sensitivity (concern for other’s feelings for their own sake)
good-will (concern for a stranger for his own sake)
because of its view that we never ought to have
concern for others for their own sake, but only
ever as a means to our own pleasure or
advantage.
Can a moral theory count as a moral theory at all,
rejecting those classic moral phenomena?
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Mother Teresa: http://www.excerptsofinri.com/mother-teresa.html
Greenpeace: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenpeace
US Soldier: http://www.mikepaulblog.com/blog/media/us%20soldier%20in%20iraq.jpg
Chicken suit: http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/state/peta-presses-mcdonalds-for-less-cruel-chicken-processing
Soldiers in a foxhole: http://warart.archives.govt.nz/node/1022
Karl Popper: http://www.utilitarianism.com/karl-popper.jpg
Ayn Rand: http://www.nndb.com/people/097/000030007/ayn-rand-wtl_big.jpg
Fredrick Nietzsche: http://www.philosophyprofessor.com/images/philosophers/friedrich-nietzsche.jpg
Cruise ship: http://www.greatdreams.com/greek-ship-sea-diamond.jpg