1. Unit 4: Morality

2. Section 2: Approaches to Moral Reasoning

3. Approaches to Moral Reasoning
Teleology – Aristotle
Goal or end (focus on virtue and responsibility)
Deontology – Immanuel Kant
Duty or obligation (focus on motivation for action)
Utilitarianism – John Stuart Mill
Goal or end (the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people)
Ethical Egoism
Goal or end (it’s good if it’s good for me)
Divine Command – Fundamental religions
It’s good if God (or some other deity) says so

4. Section 2: Approaches to Moral Reasoning
Ethical Egoism

5. Approaches to Moral Reasoning
Two Types of Egoism
Psychological Egoism
Asserts that as a matter of fact, people do always act selfishly
By nature or instinctively, people always act selfishly or at least in their own self-interest
Ethical Egoism
Maintains that people should always act selfishly
In moral situations, people should always do what will most benefit them

6. Approaches to Moral Reasoning
Thomas Hobbes ( )
Early advocate of psychological egoism
His account of human nature as self-interested cooperation has proved to be an enduring theory in the field of philosophical anthropology
Human selfishness also a significant factor in business (economics) and foreign policy
Influenced his political philosophy, especially his social contract theory
Government established to protect the people against their selfish desires which would lead to conflict and war
Individual rights ceded to government for protection

7. Approaches to Moral Reasoning
Ethical Egoism
“Look out for #1 because there is no #2”
Selfishness is extolled as a virtue
May appeal to psychological egoism as a foundation
Often very compelling for high school students
Why do you think this might be the case?
Provide an example

8. Approaches to Moral Reasoning
Versions of Ethical Egoism
Personal Ethical Egoism
“I am going to act only in my own interest, and everyone else can do whatever they want.”
Individual Ethical Egoism
“Everyone should act in my own interest.”
Universal Ethical Egoism
“Each individual should act in his or her own self interest.”

9. Approaches to Moral Reasoning
Principle Arguments in Support of Ethical Egoism
Altruism is demeaning
Acting selfishly creates a better world
It doesn’t result in such a different world after all

10. Approaches to Moral Reasoning
Principle Arguments in Support of Ethical Egoism
Altruism is demeaning
By valuing another person as more important than the self, a person was denigrating the self and putting oneself down

11. Approaches to Moral Reasoning
Principle Arguments in Support of Ethical Egoism
Acting selfishly creates a better world
If each person took care of himself, the overall effect would be to make the world a better place for everyone
Epistemological Argument – Each person is best suited to know his or her own best interests
Moral – Helping others makes them dependent, which ultimately harms them
This argument ultimately appeals to utilitarian principles (the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people)

12. Approaches to Moral Reasoning
Principle Arguments in Support of Ethical Egoism
It doesn’t result in such a different world after all
Presupposes that people in fact already act selfishly (i.e., psychological egoism) and are just pretending to be altruistic
If psychological egoism is true, then we should admit its truth and get rid of our hypocrisy
It would make a big difference in a world filled with children and people at risk or in need because they would be put in further jeopardy

13. Approaches to Moral Reasoning
Criticisms of Ethical Egoism
Cannot be consistently universalized
Presupposes a world of strangers indifferent to one another
Difficult to imagine love or even friendship from the altruist’s standpoint
Seems to be morally insensitive to others

14. Approaches to Moral Reasoning
Criticisms of Ethical Egoism
Cannot be consistently universalized
It seems to be in one’s self-interest to be selfish oneself and to get everyone else to act altruistically (especially if they act for your benefit) instead of in their own self-interest
This leads to individual instead of universal ethical egoism
The lone exception is sports where, in order to have a fair competition, both contestants must act in his or her own self interest

15. Approaches to Moral Reasoning
Criticisms of Ethical Egoism
Presupposes a world of strangers indifferent to one another
Ethical egoism is, at best, appropriate to living in a world of strangers that you do not care about

16. Approaches to Moral Reasoning
Criticisms of Ethical Egoism
Difficult to imagine love or even friendship from the altruist’s standpoint
If friendship involves (among other things) being concerned about other people for their own sake, then this seems something beyond the reach of the ethical egoist
Ethical egoists will help their “friends” only if they believe it is in their self-interest (there is a long-term payoff for doing so)

17. Approaches to Moral Reasoning
Criticisms of Ethical Egoism
Seems to be morally insensitive to others
Such a sensitivity for others seems to presuppose caring about other people for their own sake which is contradictory to the selfish tendencies of the ethical egoist
Moral sensitivity presupposes that the suffering of others exerts a moral “pull” on the individual to self-sacrificially help another person which is something that the ethical egoist does not recognize

18. Approaches to Moral Reasoning
The Truths in Ethical Egoism
Self-love is a virtue, but it is not the only virtue
Ethical egoism mistakes a part of the picture for the whole picture
Sometimes self-interest masquerades as altruism
Ethics should not deny the importance of self-interest

19. Approaches to Moral Reasoning
Aristotle & Tocqueville’s “Self-interest
rightly understood”
Ideally, we seek a society in which self-interest and regard for others converge—the green zone.
Egoism at the expense of others and altruism at the expense of self-interest both create worlds in which goodness and self-regard are mutually exclusive—the yellow zone.
No one want the red zone, which is against both self-interest and regard for others.
High
Altruism
Low Egoism
Low
Egoism
Self-sacrificing altruism
Self-interest at the expense of others
Self-interest and regard for others converge
Not beneficial either to self or others
Kant
Hobbes’s State of Nature, Nietzsche?
Drug addiction Alcoholism, etc.

20. Approaches to Moral Reasoning