Transcript Class #5 - 4/9/14

Philosophy 2030
Class #5
Tonight (4/9/14): Chapter Four
But first, let’s discuss Pop Quizzes.
Next week (4/16/14):
Read Chapter Five, pp. 231-232, 240-262
Portfolio Assignment #4
Current Portfolio to be submitted either electronically
or manually for initial review.
The Midterm Exam will NOT be next week as originally
scheduled in syllabus.
Student Portfolio:
Assignment #4
Myself or Others?
1) Find an excerpt from a TV show, or a short video
illustrating someone acting selfishly or out of their own selfinterest. Evaluate how their behavior affects others. Would
it really be reasonable for them to argue that their behavior
was for the benefit of others or would that just seem only an
excuse. Discuss your view of the matter in 1-2 paragraphs.
2) Find an excerpt from a TV show, or a short video
illustrating someone appearing to act for the benefit of
another and, if possible, someone claiming that the act was
self-interested (like the Friends video) What would it take to
convince the cynic or critic that the action was selfless, if
anything. Discuss your view of the matter in 1-2 paragraphs.
2
Chapter Four:
Myself or Others?
Looking Out for #1
Egoism:
Looking Out for #1
• Egoism can be a factual or a normative position.
• Psychological egoism, the most famous descriptive
position, claims that each person has but one
ultimate aim: her own welfare.
• Normative forms of egoism make claims about
what one ought to do, rather than describe
what one does do.
• Ethical egoism claims that it is necessary and
sufficient for an action to be morally right that
it maximize one's self-interest.
Egoism:
Looking Out for #1
An Argument for Ethical Egoism
P1: Psychological Egoism (factual)
P2: “Ought implies Can.” (normative)
That is, one should not try to do what one
cannot do. Or “One does not have a moral
obligation to perform and act unless it is
possible to do it.”
Egoism:
Looking Out for #1
• Self-interest can be understood in different ways.
• Perhaps self-interest is simply maximizing pleasure.
This is the hedonist view.
• Perhaps self-interest recognizes complex
conduct or patterns of conduct over periods
of time are required for ultimate self-interest.
• But what about the act of a soldier who risks
his own life to save his buddies? Is he just
being a fool? Or is he displaying altruism?
Egoism:
Looking Out for #1
• If everyone is just out for themselves anyway,
is the egoist not more selfish but just more
honest about it?
• Is there a difference between self-interest
and selfishness? Is an egoist the same as an
egotist?
• Actually, perhaps selfishness is the opposite
of true self-interest. That is, it is just
ignorance that is mistaking your long-term
interests for short-term pleasures or impulses?
Egoism:
Looking Out for #1
• Some ethical egoists argue that you should
do what you want. Others would argue that
you should do what is good for you.
• The Egoist appears to contradict the
Golden Rule.
• Is the Egoist suggesting that it is right to do
harm to others “if you can get away with it?”
Shared belief in the "Golden Rule“
(Ethics of Reciprocity)
“Each person should treat others in a
decent manner.”
“Almost all religious and secular
groups have passages in their holy
texts, or writings of their leaders,
which promote this Ethic of
Reciprocity.”
http://www.religioustolerance.org/reciproc.htm.
But Is the Golden Rule Always Right?
George Bernard Shaw wrote:
"Do not do unto others as you would that
they should do unto you. Their tastes may be
different."
Baseball or opera tickets?
But perhaps "doing as you would be done
by" includes taking into account your
neighbor's tastes as you would that he
should take yours into account.
Thus the "golden rule" might still express the
essence of a universal morality even if no
two men in the world had any needs or
tastes in common.
Glaucon &
the Ring of Gyges
• Glaucon asks: “If you had a ring that
would give you invisibility or anonymity to
“get away” with anything, would not a wise
person use it to further his self-interest?“
• How is Glaucon’s ring different from
Sauron’s ring in the Lord of the Rings?
• Glaucon suggests that man only acts in
the interest of others only for selfprotection (social contract theory)
• How do Socrates (or Plato) reply? What
about Aristotle?
Egoism:
Looking Out for #1
•
Please note that Socrates and Plato also would argue that you
should do what is good for you.
•
In the Republic, Plato makes clear that happiness comes from a
balance between the three parts of the soul. That is, one achieves
the good by being virtuous.
•
Aristotle of course likewise in his Golden Mean argues
that happiness is a result of being virtuous.
Thus, with these philosophers, there is no “sacrifice” of
the self to become virtuous. Their problem with Egoism
is rather that one cannot achieve what is good or virtuous
for oneself by pursuing self-interest for its own sake.
Thomas Hobbes
(1588-1679)
Thomas Hobbes agreed with Glaucon on all three
points:
1.
Humans by their nature are self-interested.
2.
Humans choose to live in society with rules
that inhibit themselves for their own
protection.
3.
Not looking after yourself is foolish.
How does Hobbes explain the apparent altruistic
acts? He points out that we can identify with
other’s pain and suffering. (pity)
Problems for the
Psychological Egoist
Video Link
1. This factual claim does not seem to be
falsifiable in principle?
2. Doing what we want is not always selfish.
The story of Lincoln and the Pigs.
3. The Fallacy of the Suppressed
Correlative. That is, we often understand the meaning
of a concept, say “self-interest” in terms of comparing it with
its opposite, but if “all” conduct is only from self-interest and
that is the only basis of morality, doesn’t that dismiss the
important difference between conduct we consider moral and
that which is not. Are we really the same as serial killers?
Why do we care?
And Even More Problems
for the Ethical Egoist
1. The Egoist seems to be suggesting that ethical
egoism does ultimately benefit everyone and that
harming others without a greater creation of good
for yourself does not truly promote your selfinterest?
But if so, is this really an argument for egoism
anymore, or is it an argument for the greater
good for all (community)?
And Even More Problems
for the Ethical Egoist
2. Many argue that Ethical Egoism is fundamentally
contradictory. They ask “How can there be a moral
principle which suggests that one has a duty to
perform an act that conflicts with the duty that
another has?”
3. Can an Ethical Egoist actually solve a moral
conflict? Is it even practical? If everyone is
following this principle, what is your common
ground?
4. It is unworkable in practice. One cannot seem to
encourage others to promote their best
interest. That would come at the expense of the
effectiveness of you promoting your own. Thus,
eventually to promote your own interest, you would
need to discourage others from doing the same.
Thus, it would fail as a moral directive.
5. And a final objection is suggested from some
contemporary philosophers that Egoism
violates a fundamental (and perhaps
universal) human value for the protection
and care of other human beings.
Question for the Class:
Which is a worse thing to happen to you?
a. You inflict physical harm on another person.
b. You have physical harm inflicted upon you.
What would an Egoist say? What would Plato
say?
Videos
Prof. Paul Stearns,
Blinn College
On Psychological Egoism
On Ethical Egoism