SENSES OF THE SELF

Gec 8
SENSES OF THE SELF

•Subjectivism
•Psychological Egoism
•Ethical Egoism
SUBJECTIVISM

•The individual thinking person (the

subject) is at the heart of ALL moral
valuations.
•The individual is the SOLE determinant
of what is morally good or bad, right or
wrong.
 SUBJECTIVISM
• “No one can tell me what is right or wrong.”
• “No one knows my situation better than myself.”
• “I am entitled to my own opinion.”
• “It is good if I say it is good.” What’s
problematic
with these
statements?
 SUBJECTIVISM
• “No one can tell me what is right
or wrong.”
• “No one knows my situation
What’s
better than myself.”
• “I am entitled to my own
problematic
opinion.”
• “It is good if I say it is good.” with these
statements?
 PSYCHOLOGICAL
EGOISM
• There is already an underlying basis for how one
acts – to satisfy one’s (ego) desires and interests.
• We do things in pursuit of our own self-interest
all the time.
 WHAT ABOUT?
• Generosity The psychological egoist
• Charity would maintain that
• Philanthropy underlying all behavior is
SELF-SERVING DESIRE, even
if one does one does not
acknowledge it or is even
conscious of it.
 PSYCHOLOGICAL
EGOISM
• There is self-serving motive at the root of
everything.
• Psychological egoism (PE) is simple and
irrefutable.
• PE nullifies the possibility of any normative ethics
in its view of the already determined human being
 ETHICAL EGOISM
• Does NOT suppose all our actions are already
inevitably self-serving.
• “We may act in a way that is beneficial to others
BUT we should do that ONLY if it ultimately
benefits us.”
 IF WE WOULD
NEVER BE CALLED
IN ORDER TO
ACCOUNT FOR OUR
ACTIONS, PERHAPS
WE WOULD JUST
CHOOSE TO DO
WHATEVER WE
WANT.
 SOCRATES’ ANSWER
• The good human life stems from the harmony of
the parts of the soul.
• Harmony requires a certain ordering; a
hierarchal system in which REASON is on top.
 SOCRATES’ ANSWER
• The absence of order, with desires and appetites
running rampant, results in acts of injustice.
• What if…
 ETHICAL EGOISM
• Not just some pleasant pursuit of one’s own
desires, but the imposition of a will to power that
is potentially destructive of BOTH the self and
others.
• Thinking of our own well-being concomitantly
with the well-being of others.
SENSES OF THE SELF
•Subjectivism
•Psychological Egoism
•Ethical Egoism