ALTRUISM
An attempt to overcome some problems with Hobbes
Task

Complete the task on the sheet



This activity forces us to consider what would
happen if everyone behaved in a certain way
What becomes clear is that everyone’s behaving
self-interestedly means they are all worse off
On this basis it has been argued that those of us
who develop dispositions to altruism are going to be
better off than those who remain short-sightedly
self-serving in their behaviour
What This Means


So with time we will all internalise the need for
cooperative behaviour and thus willingly contract
into moral behaviour without the need to be coerced
by authority
On this account we can imagine human beings
having genuinely altruistic motives, while at the same
time the existence of such motives can be explained
in terms of what best serves their individual as well
as collective interest
Do You Agree?


Do you agree with this?
What effect, if any does it have on social contract
theory?
Altruism Is In Our Genes



There is an alternative approach that has developed
from the perspective of evolutionary biology
Altruistic behaviour amongst modern humans may be
explained because it leads to greater evolutionary
success
In other words, if strong altruistic instincts in an animal
lead to its having more offspring than lack those
instincts, then such interests are evolutionarily beneficial
Evolution and Altruism



Such animals, of course, never chose to be moral
There was never a conventional agreement struck in
the understanding that this would be mutually
advantageous
But the fact that it is mutually advantageous to
behave morally means that the genes which tend to
produce such behaviour will survive
So...

So modern humans may well have genuinely
altruistic motives which are hard wired precisely
because this is an effective survival strategy, and
those of our ancestors who were not so moral have
died out
Discussion


Do you think altruism is beneficial for the
development of humans?
Can you see any problems with this?
Criticism

Morality involves adopting an impartial perspective:
 Any
account of moral behaviour that explains why it is
advantageous can still be accused of failing to
understand what morality is really about
 Morality necessarily involves taking an impartial
perspective on matters
 Even if it turns out that moral behaviour is to my and
others advantage, this is not what makes it moral
 Rather it is moral precisely to the extent that it is
unconcerned with serving the advantage of any party,
or, because moral behaviour is good in-itself,
irrespective any agreements made or advantages
sought
Continued Criticism
 Moral
principles are applicable universally, to all
persons equally
 This
means that in order to discover them we have to
adopt a point of view which is impersonal, from which
we can consider all interested parties equally, rather
than from the narrow perspective of self-interest
Recap of Rawls


A more recent version of the contract approach to
ethics comes from John Rawls
The key problem with Hobbes’ approach is that
individuals will not enter into negotiation over a
contract on equal footing, meaning that in the state
of nature those who are stronger are going to gain
advantages over the others
Can Rawls Overcome This Problem?


Unlike Hobbes, for Rawls it is essential to a just social
arrangement that each of us should be free from fear
or having their rights violated and so, even if I happen
to be in a minority, the majority cannot act in a way
which benefits them at my expense
To ensure that we come up with a system of rules which
doesn’t unfairly benefit anyone, Rawls reckons the
contract needs to be negotiated from a position of
equality
How Do We Do This?



The position from which we must negotiate the rules by
which civil society is going to be organised must be one
in which we are unaware of the place in society we are
going to hold
In Rawls’ words we must negotiate from behind a ‘veil
of ignorance’ which ensures our impartiality
This approach sees moral reasoning as intrinsically to
do with adopting an impartial perspective and
emphasises the importance of fairness