Rachels, Ch 5: Psychological Egoism

• Difference between egoism and altruism
• Looking out for oneself (one's own interests) and looking out for others (interests)
  
• DEFINITION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL EGOISM (=PE)
• A theory of human nature; what people are like
• People are incapable of being unselfish because they are so constituted to always look out only for their own self-interest
• Definition of Psychological Altruism
• People are capable of looking out for the interests of others for their own sake
• PE claims psychological altruism is impossible
• People can't care for others for their own sake
• People can act to benefit the interests of others but only when there is something in it for themselves, and that they will get something out of it is the sole reason they benefit those interests
• In the end, people care nothing for others; they care only about themselves
• According to PE, people are never even partially motivated to help others for their own sake
• Weaker position than PE (and one incompatible with it): self-benefit must always be part of motivation, but altruism can also be part
  
• WHY PE MATTERS
• Psychology and morality are related
• At the very least, moral theories must be psychologically realistic
• Ought implies can (if it is true and makes sense to say one ought to do X, then it must also be true that one can do X; for if one can't do X, then there would be no reason to assert that one should do X)
• Morality typically claims one should be altruistic: act to look out for the interests of others for their own sake.
• But if PE is true, we can't act this way and it is pointless to insist that we do
• So it is important for typical accounts of morality to prove PE is false
• Capitalism vs Socialism: Further, what the best structure of society might be also could depend on the truth of the debate: Capitalism (private ownership and control of productive property, free market and little government involvement) seems to assume people are self-interested whereas Socialism (public ownership and control in the means of production) seems to assume they can act altruistically for the good of the public

• PE'S STRATEGY OF REINTERPRETING MOTIVES
• One obvious way to object to PE is to find counterexamples: examples of altruistic acts
• Given the universality of its claims, all we need is one example of an altruistic act to prove PE is false
• And there are many: People diving into the cold icy waters of the Potomac River to save victims of an airplane crash: Roger Olian
• Strategy of Reinterpreting Motives
• Allegedly altruistic acts are done really out of self-interest
• Go to heaven
• Get recognition
• To feel good
• To avoid feeling bad
• To feel superior (Hobbes' "charity")
• This strategy can apply to any act
• Does not prove PE is true, only that it might still be true, despite the alleged counterexamples


• ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR OF PE


• One: Because people always do what they most want to do, it follows that they always act selfishly
• Rachels' replies
• Reply one: People don't always do what they most want as they can act from duty as well as desire (wants)
• People don't always voluntarily do what they most want to do; they have a sense of obligation and can act on it
• E.g., You really don't want to do X (visit your sick relative in the hospital), but you do it because you think you should)
• Is moral motivation a type of desire too? A type of want?
• Reply two: Even if people always do what they most want to do, wanting to help others is unselfish, not selfish; the argument has a mistaken view of selfishness
• E.g., Giving money to famine relief because you want to is being unselfish not selfish; it is not selfish to want to help starving people; wanting to help others is just what unselfishness amounts to
• Unselfish: wanting to help others
• Selfish: wanting only to help yourself
  
• Two: (Abe argument for PE) When we help others we get a good feeling from doing so (or avoid a bad one) and that's why we do it, solely for the good feeling and that is selfish since we care only about benefitting ourselves
• Two problems with this argument
• One: Why does the person get satisfaction from helping others? Because she has a non-egoistic concern about them
• Sh cares about what happens to others and that shows she's not egoistic
• Reply: She gets this satisfaction because she feels superior to them when she helps them?
• Two: Confuses goal (object of desire) with results (good feelings) we get from achieving it
• That we get good feelings when we achieve our goal (helping others) doesn't show that the good feelings were the goal
• Falsely treats pleasure we get from achieving a goal as the goal itself
• Desire---->object or goal---->resulting satisfaction
  
• PE CONFUSES THREE CONCEPTS; IT FALSELY IDENTIFIES
• (a) SELF-INTEREST=(b) SELFISHNESS=(c) PURSUIT OF PLEASURE
• A, not B: Brush teeth and going to the dentist
• This shows that not all acts are selfish
• C, not A: Smoking
• This by itself shows that not all acts are based on self-interest
• These examples refute PE even with examples of altruistic acts