Friday, February 8, 2013
Problems with the critique of Ethical Egoism
The critique that ethical egoism is an oxymoron if all moral action is "other directed." The issue I have with this is that it assumes ALL moral action is "other directed." This premise assumes that one can, therefore, be neither moral or immoral to themselves. This is problematic because I would venture to say, that if someone never eats so that others can eat and then this person dies from starvation, that person has acted immorally toward themselves. In summary I have issue with the statement that all moral action must be other directed.
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I agree with your example of someone dying so that others can eat as being immoral, but I am having a hard time understanding what you mean by "other directed".
ReplyDeleteI would agree with you when you say that one cannot totally abandon the self in the process of doing the most good for others, and I think that your example demonstrates this to be the case. If you read my take on Ayn Rand's "In Defense of Ethical Egoism," I suggest that there can be a balance of the two extremes. One does not have to abandon the self in order to bring the most good to others, and one does not have to abandon others and only be concerned with the self. We must preserve the self in order to meet the needs of others, for without the self, how can we serve?! If we cultivate the virtues to perfect the self, then we have the capability to reach out to others and serve them in a greater capacity, and in this way, we not only as individuals can flourish, but we can also help others to reach their full potentials as human beings.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Joey, and Avani. I would like a little unpacking.
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