Sober and Wilson, however, make the case that such arguments are seriously flawed at least because the conclusion does not follow from the premises (1998, p. 278). A famous story involving Abraham Lincoln usefully illustrates this (see Rachels 2003, p. 69). She may not help everyone in all circumstances, but she will help if the sacrifice involved is not too great. So you've got no friends and nothing but apples. Some might also include Aristotle (compare Feinberg 1965/1999, p. 501) and John Stuart Mill (compare Sidgwick 1874/1907, 1.4.2.1), but there is some room for interpreting them otherwise. feel glad someone was helped). Psychological egoism claims that humans are self-interested by nature, whether they know it or not. However, the experiments seem to rule out all the plausible (and some rather implausible) egoistic explanations. Normative doctrines state what is right and wrong and indicate how people should act, so they're not scientific theories, and therefore require philosophical, not scientific, evidence. https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-psychological-egoism-3573379 (accessed March 4, 2023). A critique of Sober and Wilsons claim that evolutionary theory resolves the egoism-altruism debate while social psychology doesnt. 292-3). The motorist might be thinking that one day she, too, could need help. A classic, comprehensive ethical theory, which focuses on developing a kind of utilitarianism. An overview of the philosophical, evolutionary, and psychological work relevant to the egoism-altruism debate. Discusses a wide range of philosophical topics related to motivation. Email: joshmay@uab.edu 5). The term self-interest is more fitting. But, as we will see, much of it is rather tangential to the thesis of psychological altruism. Here, let's take a look at that ego. You see, many psychologists believe that self-interest is the basis for all human interactions. He mounts a famous argument against psychological hedonism in particular. Philosopher Elliott Sober and biologist David Sloan Wilson (1998) have made careful and sophisticated arguments for the falsity of psychological egoism directly from considerations in evolutionary biology. Cialdini et al. The hedonistic mechanism always begins with the ultimate desire for pleasure and the avoidance of pain. But there's a big difference between what is and what should be. Different hypotheses then provide either egoistic or altruistic explanations of why the subjects ultimately chose to help or offer to help. But one key disadvantage of a hedonistic mechanism, they argue, is that its heavily mediated by beliefs (p. 314). It isnt you that is in danger. This egoistic picture is entirely compatible with Butlers claims about presupposition. Other empirical work that bears on the existence of altruistic motives can be found in the study of empathy-induced helping behavior. But Lincoln reportedly replied: I should have had no peace of mind all day had I gone on and left that suffering old sow worrying over those pigs. 293-5). To take an example from Bernard Williams, a madman might have an ultimate desire for a chimpanzees tea party to be held in the cathedral (1973, p. 263). For example, if Thomas removes his heel from anothers gouty toe because he has an ultimate desire that the person benefit from it, then psychological egoism is false. He ultimately attempts to give a more Humean defense of altruism, as opposed to the more Kantian defenses found in Thomas Nagel, for example. A significant portion of it is devoted to various kinds of egoism. In at least one ordinary use of the term, for someone to act altruistically depends on her being motivated solely by a concern for the welfare of another, without any ulterior motive to simply benefit herself. Regardless of ordinary terminology, the view philosophers label psychological egoism has certain key features. 4, p. 495). To the most careless observer there appear to be such dispositions as benevolence and generosity; such affections as love, friendship, compassion, gratitude. After all, often self-benefit only seems to be what we ultimately desire, though a closer look reveals benefits like pleasure are likely justbyproducts while the proximate desire is for that which generates them. While introspection, to some extent, may be a decent source of knowledge of our own minds, it is fairly suspect to reject an empirical claim about potentially unconscious motivations. obtain rewards from self or others (e.g. Lincoln was allegedly arguing that we are all ultimately self-interested when he suddenly stopped to save a group of piglets from drowning. The new premise seems to amount to nothing more than the denial of psychological egoism: sometimes people havean ultimate desire for something other than self-interest. An examination of the neurological basis of moral motivation in the brain. Psychological egoism is appealing for two main reasons: To its critics, though, the theory is too simple. Sober and Wilson make several arguments for the claim that the pluralistic mechanism is more reliable. Unfortunately, Hobbes and Bentham dont offer much in the way of arguments for these views; they tend to just assume them. List of the Pros of Ethical Egoism 1. Their contention is the following: Natural selection is unlikely to have given us purely egoistic motives (p. 12). For example, suppose that John wants to help put out a fire in the hair of a man who appears to be in front of him, but he doesnt know that hes actually looking into a mirror, and its his own hair thats ablaze. Indeed, the only major figures in the history of philosophy to endorse the view explicitly are arguably Thomas Hobbes and Jeremy Bentham. A famous story involving Abraham Lincoln usefully illustrates this (see Rachels 2003, p. 69). Psychological egoism is the view that humans are always motivated by self-interest and selfishness, even in what seem to be acts of altruism. Moreover, some biologists have suggested that the thesis can be supported or rejected directly based on evolutionary theory or work in sociobiology. A popular contemporary introduction to moral philosophy. His interlocutor seized the moment, attempting to point out that Lincoln is a living counter-example to his own theory; Lincoln seemed to be concerned with something other than what he took to be his own well-being. Perhaps it is true that I do this because I have a desire to help or please others. As a member, you'll also get unlimited access to over 88,000 Focus, however, is not just to rebut egoistic theories of motivation but also neo-Humean desire-based ones, which are related more to the distinct debate about the role of reason in motivation. Focuses primarily on Sober and Wilson as well as Batson, arguing that psychological evidence has advanced the debate more than evolutionary arguments, though both are currently inconclusive. Why? Ethical egoism is the idea that a moral action is one based on self-interest. Next, think of an action that a character in the book or movie takes. A self-interested action is one that is motivated by a concern for ones own interests. Batsons first book-length defense of the existence of altruism. In general, regardless of being fully aware or not, individuals will. While some have argued that the jury is still out, it is clear that the rising interdisciplinary dialogue is both welcome and constructive. A philosophers defense of psychological egoism based on empirical work in psychology at the time, which was largely behavioristic in nature. Mercer 2001, pp. We're done talking about scientific facts; it's time to talk some philosophy. At the very least, the argument is dialectically unhelpfulit offers premises in support of the conclusion that are as controversial as the conclusion is, and for similar reasons. Second, shifting the burden of proof based on common sense is rather limited. If Johns desire is ultimate and is simply to help the man with his hair in flames, then it is necessary to count his desire as concerning someone other than himself, even though he is in fact the man with his hair on fire (Oldenquist 1980, pp. 2.12; Broad 1950/1952; Nagel 1970/1978, p. 80, n. 1; Feinberg 1965/1999). Your actions can be purely motivated by doing what's best for you, but sometimes it's in your best interest not to be selfish. I offer them the last piece of cake, even though Id like it myself. gain a mood-enhancing experience (e.g. Ethical egoism is a philosophical theory that holds that the promotion of one's own self-interest is the morally right course of action. Therefore, an example of ethical egoism would be the moral pursuit of one's own self-interest to end a romantic relationship even if it may not be in the best interest of a significant other or shared child/children. It would show that psychological egoism is false, since it would demonstrate that some of our ultimate desires are not egoistic. Building on this observation, Hume takes the most obvious objection to psychological egoism to be that: as it is contrary to common feeling and our most unprejudiced notions, there is required the highest stretch of philosophy to establish so extraordinary a paradox. The word satisfaction in the latter case is the more ordinary use involving ones own pleasure or happiness. succeed. First, falsification criteria for empirical theories are problematic and have come under heavy attack. Those who believe in psychological egoism do so because their scientific research about human behavior, attitudes, and motivations supports it. The point is that the theses are contraries: they cannot both be true, but they can both be false. It too could be false if we sometimes have ultimate desires that are not egoistic, like the madmans. Remaining in an unhappy or unsatisfactory relationship for others' sake would go against the moral claims of ethical egoism. Hume, David (1751/1998). In that sense, I could be described, in some sense, as satisfying my desires even when I act unselfishly. 1.8.). Think of a book or movie you like and know well. To make the task easier, we may begin with quite bare and schematic definitions of the positions in the debate (May 2011, p. 27; compare also Rosas 2002, p. 98): We will use the term desire here in a rather broad sense to simply mean a motivational mental statewhat we might ordinarily call a motive or reason in at least one sense of those terms. The form of egoism is a special concern for selfinterest (Harris and Rabins, 2005). The psychological egoist holds that descriptions of our motivation, like Lincolns, apply to all of us in every instance. The pros and cons of ethical egoism lead us to a place where morality becomes an individualized definition instead of a societal constraint. But are all our actions self-interested? Thus, it is a specific version of psychological egoism. The pleasure that accompanies the fulfillment of our desires is often a mere byproduct of our prior desire for the thing that gave us pleasure. And at this point we may suspect that they are holding their theory in a privileged positionthat of immunity to evidence, that they would allow no conceivable behavior to count as evidence against it. praise, pride). University of Alabama at Birmingham avoid social-punishment (e.g. Nisbett, R. E. & T. D. Wilson (1977). He argues that there is at least potentially a basis for psychological egoism in behavioristic theories of learning, championed especially by psychologists such as B. F. Skinner. A classic interpretation is that Hobbes holds a form of psychological egoism. But the class of ultimate desires may include much more than this. To be fair, in a later edition of The Selfish Gene, Dawkins recognizes his folly and asks the reader to ignore such rogue sentences (p. ix). Famous account of the process of evolution, turning the focus on genes, rather than the organism, and their propensity to replicate themselves via natural selection (hence the idea of a selfish gene). In the next section well consider more direct ways for addressing the egoism-altruism debate empirically. Each link in the chain is susceptible to error, which makes the mechanism less reliable at yielding the relevant outcome. Psychological egoism is a non-normative or descriptive theory in that it only makes claims about how things are and not how they ought to be. In fact, psychologists have observed that selfishness is very commonly not in your best interest. For instance, both concepts contain the keyword "egoism," triggering the idea of self-interest, and the difference is between the terms ethical and psychological. A soldier falling on a grenade to protect others from the explosion. 2.6, p. 166). But, they both agree that self-interest is in your best interest. Psychological egoism is a perspective that humans are motivated, always, deep down by what they perceive to be in their self-interest. Examples like the Prisoner's Dilemma, a well-known philosophical thought experiment that illustrates ethical egoism and its practical application. it offers a hard-headed, seemingly cynical view of human nature. Slote writes that such theories posit a certain number of basically selfish, unlearned primary drives or motives (like hunger, thirst, sleep, elimination, and sex), and explain all other, higher-order drives or motives as derived genetically from the primary ones via certain laws of reinforcement (p. 530). The person giving to charity might be hoping to impress others, or they might be trying to avoid feelings of guilt, or they might be looking for that warm fuzzy feeling one gets after doing a good deed. That also means that we are basing this doctrine in empirical, observable science. Both psychological egoism and ethical egoism focus on the self-interest of an individual. Even if we disagree with their claim and allow a larger role for shifting burdens of proof via common sense, it still may have limited use, especially when the common sense view might be reasonably cast as supporting either position in the egoism-altruism debate. 305-8). The examples just given illustrate this idea. One of the principal conceptions of ethical egoism highlighted by Rand is devoted to the aspect of morality and its place in humanity. The soldier falling on the grenade might be hoping for glory, even if only the posthumous kind. Psychological Egoism: "that man always in fact seeks his own good." (Nielsen) Everyone innately follows egoism religiously from the day they are born. Another popular complaint about psychological egoism is that it seems to be immune to empirical refutation; it is unfalsifiable. And this is often taken to be a criterion for an empirical theory: any view that isnt falsifiable isnt a genuine, credible scientific theory (see Karl Poppers Falsificationism). As we have seen (1b), psychological egoism neednt hold that all our ultimate desires are selfish. Ethical egoism is considered a normative theory of ethics because it makes a moral judgment about what is ethically right or wrong. But the debate about psychological egoism concerns the motivations that underlie all of our actions (Nagel 1970/1978, p. 16, n. 1). See the difference between ethical and psychological egoism? Clearly, most of our actions are of this sort. Consider again the desire for water. It also suggests that every action must be motivated by self interest. Egoism and Altruism. Ch. Altruism.. So, even if the premises are true, it does not follow that egoism is false. It would be odd to suggest that its ultimately her own benefit that Pam is seeking. E.g. However, a great deal of empirical work beginning in the late 20th century has largely filled the void. The main problem is that such arguments tell us nothing about which desires are ultimate. in Philosophy. The key difference, they contend, is reliability: Pluralism was just as available as hedonism, it was more reliable, and hedonism provides no advantage in terms of energetic efficiency (p. 323). One might dispute whether psychological egoism is any more parsimonious than psychological altruism (Sober & Wilson 1998, pp. Similarly, C. D. Broad (1950/1952) and Bernard Williams (1973, pp. From a philosophical standpoint, being selfish can be against your best interest, and therefore is immoral. I feel like its a lifeline. Developing a clear and precise account of the egoism-altruism debate is more difficult than it might seem at first. Next, think of how your action could possibly have been in your self-interest. Second, the mechanism mustnt conflict with the organisms reproductive fitness; they must reliably produce the relevant fitness-enhancing outcome (such as viability of offspring). Whereas examples of psychological egoism are seen if the individual intentionally acts to bolster a brand, gain viewers and subscribers, or garner praise, including performative charity and activism. Create your account, 43 chapters | Sometimes such benefit presupposes a desire for what generated it (e.g. Of Self-Love. Appendix II of his, A discussion of psychological egoism that is absent from the. I show up for work because I have an interest in being paid. Yet this prediction has been repeatedly disconfirmed (Batson 1991, ch. See, I told you it wasn't an insult. Psychological egoists suggest that we are all, at the bottom, quite selfish. The doctrine of selfish motivation is simply a natural law of psychology. Philosopher Carolyn Morillo (1990) has defended a version of psychological hedonism based on more recent neuroscientific work primarily done on rats.
