This week we consider two forms of egoism which help us address psychological questions about moral motivation and the genesis of morality: psychological egoism and ethical egoism.Psychological egoism is a descriptive theory that says we are all, in fact, always motivated out of self-interest. Ethical egoism is a prescriptive theory since it says we should always act in our own self-interest. It is called “ethical” egoism precisely because it is a prescriptive rather than a descriptive theory,
NOT because it is necessarily good or moral (to think that would be, as
we have seen, to misunderstand the meaning of ethics in philosophy and
think that ‘ethics’ is synonymous with ‘moral’ or ‘good’). When it comes
to psychological egoism, we will want to know if it is really the case
that we are all, in fact, motivated out of self-interest. When it comes
to ethical egoism, we will want to ask: Aren’t there good reasons to
think we should act, at least sometimes, for the sake of others? That
is, shouldn’t we, at least sometimes, be altruistic?
Isn’t it the case that what is right or good is not always in our
interest? We admire many people who put aside their interests to help
others, and world religions have always celebrated individuals who have
championed altruism. So shouldn’t we forgo being ethical egoists? Perhaps. But again, we need to ask what arguments(recall
an argument is a set of premises from which a conclusion is derived,
not a disagreement) can be given in defense of the claim that ethical
egoism should or should not be embraced as an ethical theory. I offer a
few in the reading I wrote up for you and in the IEP reading as well.
We
will also take a quick look at Social Contract Theory, a theory about
the origins of morality that works well with egoism vs. altruism issues.
This theory states that morality emerges from the adoption of a social
contract to act a certain way if others do as well. We will briefly look
at two famous contract approaches to morality from Thomas Hobbes and
John Locke.
Questions and Points to Master
What is the difference between egoism and egotism (with a ’t’)?
What is psychological egoism?
Know that one of the central difficulties with psychological egoism is the fact that it is about motives—about the selfish motives that underlie all of our acts. After all, motives are very difficult—and usually impossible—to
verify, observe, study scientifically, etc. This doesn’t mean the
theory is false; but it does mean it may be useless as an explanatory
principle.
But if we look at the other side of the argument, we do have
people’s sincere and, sometimes, carefully formulated first-person
testimony of their altruistic motives. This strongly suggests that
egoism is not just a poor explanatory device but also false.
What is rational egoism?
What is conditional egoism?
Know that one objection to rational egoism is that it may not always be rational to act in your own self-interest.
What is ethical egoism?
Know
that social contract theory (SCT) is the view that persons’ moral
and/or political obligations are dependent upon a contract or agreement
among them to form the society in which they live.
Be
able to compare and contrast Hobbes’ view of the social contract with
Locke’s view of the social contract (see the entry on the SCT in IEP for
details on both, as well as this week’s videos). Hobbes’ view, which is
grounded in moral relativism, hedonism (pleasure is the ultimate good),
egoism, materialism (reality is only matter in motion), and determinism
(every movement is the necessary effect of previous causes and thus
there is no free will), entails that we are all determined to avoid the
violent “state of nature” (the state of the world without civilization
which, due to our egoism and desire for pleasure and power, is
“solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”) by entering into a social
contract by adopting the following “the laws of nature”: (1) seek peace
if others do as well; (2) give up your all rights if others do as well;
and (3) hand over all power to a Leviathan or powerful ruler who will
keep the peace by force. In contrast, Locke does not view humans as
egoists and thus doesn’t think the state of nature would be so bad. As a
result, he doesn’t think humans would be so desperate to escape it by
adopting a contract in which we lose our rights. Thus his version of the
social contract included innate natural rights, a division of powers in
government, the right to legitimate revolution, and, in general, a
government of, by, and for the people. Our founding fathers, in
considering these theories, chose to go with Locke.
What do you think of ethical egoism? What objections for or against it
do you find convincing? Unconvincing? Feel free to add to, develop, or
critique those reasons given above. You can also work in aspects of
rational egoism and conditional egoism as well.