Ethical Thought

1. Ethical Thought C. Ethical Egoism ‘The achievement of his own happiness is man’s highest moral purpose’. Ayn Rand

2. Recap – add 10 key terms for each theory Divine Command Theory Virtue Theory

3. What is ethical Egoism? Ethical egoism is a meta-ethical investigation that is focused on the agent, this is, individual character, to give an understanding of ‘norm’ or behaviour. In looking at the individual character, and the motives behind an individual’s actions, there is a very important question that emerges. Do we behave in a manner that is purely driven by our self-interest? See the example that follows A normative agent focused ethic based upon self-interest as opposed to altruism (acting for the interests of others)

4. Ethical Egoism An example Is There a Duty to Contribute for Famine Relief? Each year millions of people die of malnutrition and related health problems. A common pattern among children in poor countries is death from dehydration caused by diarrhea brought on by malnutrition. The executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has estimated that about 15,000 children die in this way every day. That comes to 5,475,000 children annually. Even if this estimate is too high, the number that die is staggering.

5. For those of us in the affluent countries, this poses an acute moral problem. We spend money on ourselves, not only for the necessities of life but for innumerable luxuries-for fine cars, fancy clothes, stereos, sports, movies, and so on. In our country, even people with modest incomes enjoy such things. The problem is that we could forgo our luxuries and give the money for famine relief instead. The fact that we don't suggests that we regard our luxuries as more important than feeding the hungry.

6. Why do we allow people to starve when we could save them? Few of us actually believe our luxuries are that important. Most of us, if asked the question directly, would probably be a bit embarrassed, and we would say that we probably should do more to help. The explanation of why we do not is, at least in part, that we hardly ever think of the problem. Living our own comfortable lives, we are effectively insulated from it. The starving people are dying at some distance from us; we do not see them and we can avoid even thinking of them. When we do think of them, it is only abstractly, as bloodless statistics. Unfortunately for the dying, statistics do not have much power to motivate.

7. Ethical egoism In 1928, H.A. Pritchard delivered a lecture entitled ‘Duty and Interest’ in which he questioned the true motive behind a dutiful action. Richard Norman writes ‘ Pritchard’s central argument is this: if justice is advocated on the grounds that it is advantageous to the just person, it is thereby reduced to a form of self-interest.’ In other words, duty is not really duty unless it is done for duties sake. If we act because then end product is advantageous to us, whether we are consciously aware of the fact or not, we are, in essence, acting from self-interest. This is the meta-ethical point of focus for what is called ethical egoism.

8. Distinction between ethical egoism and psychological egoism Types of egoism Ethical egoism Psychological egoism Psychological egoism is a theory of human nature that purports to describe what motivates people to act – Julia Driver ‘We know of only one principle, that men always act from self-interest.’ Lord Macaulay e.g. humans always act for what they think is their self-interest, humans are not altruistic. Can you think of an example? Humans give money to charity to look good to others Ethical egoism, on the other hand, is normative. It purports to tell us how people ought to act. Driver e.g. We ought always to act self-interestedly

9. Long-term and short-term self-interest For example a. Giving to charity b. Giving up time to visit an elderly relative What are the immediate benefits? What could long term benefits be? Ethical egoism does not mean that we should always act selfishly. Acting in self-interest involves a more complex consideration of both short-term and long-term benefits. For example, an action that clearly helps another person in the short term may have a less obvious purpose of self-benefit in the long term. Frankena‘It should be noted that an ethical egoist need not be an egotist or even an egotistic and selfish man in the everyday sense of these terms. Ethical egoism is an ethical theory, not a pattern of action or trait of character, and is compatible with being self- effacing and unselfish in practice.’

10. Max Stirner • Max Stirner (1806–1856) is best known as the author of The Ego and Its Own Stirnerian egoism is perhaps best thought of, not in terms of the pursuit of self-interest, but rather as a variety of individual self-government or autonomy. Egoism properly understood is to be identified with what Stirner calls ‘ownness’ a type of autonomy which is incompatible with any suspension, whether voluntary or forced, of individual judgement. “I am my own”, Stirner writes, “only when I am master of myself, instead of being mastered … by anything else” This Stirnerian ideal of self-mastery has external and internal dimensions, requiring both that we avoid subordinating ourselves to others and that we escape being ‘dragged along’ by our own appetites. In short, Stirner not only rejects the legitimacy of any subordination to the will of another but also recommends that individuals cultivate an ideal of emotional detachment towards their own appetites and ideas.