Morality and Self-Interest

1
Morality and Self-Interest

• Vice and Virtue in Everyday Life
• Chapter 3

2
The Ring of Gyges, Plato

• Humans do what is just because they lack the
  power to do wrong.
• The story of the Ring of Gyges illustrates this
  point.
• Who is happier, the just man with the bad
  reputation, or the unjust man with the good
  reputation?

3
Of the State of Men without Civil Society, Hobbes

• Egoism and the state of nature
• Why do we form a society?
• On the benefits of forming a society, rather than
  remaining in the state of nature

4
Of Self-Love, Hume

• Hume rejects both ethical and psychological
  egoism.
• Our love of our fellow human beings is not mere
  self-love.
• We should not reduce love, friendship, and
  compassion to self-love.

5
Hume

• Observation and experience tell us that there are
  unselfish dispostions and affections.
• Human nature, in conclusion, is not egoistic.

6
The Unselfishness Trap, Browne

• The Unselfishness Trapthe belief that I should
  put other peoples happiness before my own.
• If we live for others, the world will not be
  better.
• We shouldnt do things to appear to be unselfish.

7
Browne

• Not all people are made happy by making others
  happy.
• Everyone is ultimately selfish, because we all do
  what we think will make us feel good.

8
Egoism and Moral Skepticism, Rachels

• Psychological egoism and ethical egoism
• Rachels discusses 2 general arguments for
  psychological egoism, and why they are flawed.
• Selfishness is not the same as self-interest.

9
Rachels

• A false dichotomy exists between actions being
  done from self-interest or altruistic motives.
• Concern for ones own welfare is compatible with
  concern for the welfare of others.

10
Rachels

• Rachels also argues against ethical egoism, in
  part because sympathy is fundamental to human
  nature.

11
The Virtue of Selfishness, Rand

• Selfishness has wrongly been considered to be a
  vice.
• On altruism, who the beneficiary of an action is
  determines the morality of that action.

12
Rand

• Altruism permits no concept of justice, so we
  must redeem the concept of selfishness.

13
Egoism, Self-Interest, and Altruism, Pojman

• Pojman restates Rands argument for ethical
  egoism.
• Rands argument commits the fallacy of a false
  dilemma.

14
Pojman

• Happiness comes when we avoid the extremes of
  ethical egoism and the morality of
  self-effacement.

15
Why Not Be a Bad Person? McGinn

• The good life of virtue is self-justifying.
• McGinns shortlist of virtues, i.e. the BIG FOUR
  kindness, honesty, justice, and independence

16
McGinn

• The virtuous person is bold and attractive, the
  vicious person cowardly and unattractive.
• McGinn finally offers a list of moral maxims.

17
Why Act Morally? Singer

• Human nature and human happiness
• Can psychopaths be truly happy?
• Does life have any meaning?
• The psychopaths life focuses inwardly and on
  short-term pleasures.

18
Singer

• The normal persons life is better because she
  lives for outward and far-reaching purposes.
• Ethics takes on the point of view of the universe.