MODULE 4 Egoism & Altruism Flashcards
It believes that the interests of others are always good reasons to act or not to act. It therefore displays basic compassion to others.
Ethical Altruist/ Ethical Altruism
If one believes (and also applies the belief) that the interests of others should be considered in doing an action.
Weak Ethical Altruism
It asserts that one must always act for the benefit of others.
Strong Ethical Altruism
This person’s default position is to prioritize his or her own interests over those of others. They can still be convinced of the value of the interests of others if they are instrumental to his or her own
interests.
Ethical Egoist/ Ethical Egoism
It is demonstrated by the individual who has no compassion for others at all.
Ethical Egotism
The ethical egoist has ____________________ for others.
conditional compassion
He is not motivated by any kind of compassion for others.
Ethical Egotist
How do you determine whether an action is egoism, altruism, and egotism?
By its Intentions
citizens are to recognise one another through the law as members in a collective enterprise
Political-legal system
These are assumed to be the natural outgrowth of self- interest and ethically indifferent provided the ground rules that govern them are fair.
Economic system or Capitalism
The rationally reflective and formally free individual is to discover some set of formal principles that regulate self- interest.
Moral-Personal sphere
It is a form of self- relation between an abstract solitary ego and the merely formal principles defining its duties.
Ethical Reasoning
The state is not grounded in a
substantive universal value but in the arbitrary power of the sovereign who exists to enforce the laws, keep the peace, and prevent self-interest from becoming socially destructive but otherwise permitting egoistic pursuits.
Hobbes’ Social Contract
It is ‘never to be treated as a mere means, but always, at the same time, as an end in itself’
Kant’s Rational Being
Recognition that humans are organic, embodied, and socially interrelated beings
Altruism
Recognition of a shared reality: to know the requirements of my being is to know the requirements of human being
Altruism
What is the goal of Altruism?
GOAL: developing my good in a way that advances the possibility that others will be able to do the same
It holds that underneath the disruptions of divisive economic and thought systems there remains a necessary connection between human beings and their natural and social environments that is the basis of materialist ethical criticism.
Altruism
It sees the contributivist
perspective as constitutive of moral being, and abiding by it as crucial for being moral.
Ethical Contributivism
General Principle of Contribution:
‘Act so that you will not be a misfortune to others, and wish to be a good fortune to them.
It is a form of an appreciation-attitude.
Gratitude
It is not essentially a consequentialist mechanism, an obligation incurred by a contract, a categorical debt, or a trait of a person’s character, but a fitting reaction to another’s beneficence.
Gratitude
Give the two types of Contributionism
- Contributing by not Harming
- Reactive- Contributions
Determine if its altruism egotism or egoism:
Example
Suppose there are three of us and we are on our way to class. While walking, we notice that a student has dropped his glasses and papers on the sidewalk. The student is frantically trying to catch the various bits, but he is largely ineffective due to his poor eyesight and general clumsiness. All three of us approach the student to help, and in a few seconds, he is back on his way to wherever he was supposed to be going. In that sense, all three of us seemed to have done some good.
Person A: I approached to help because I recognized the student as the son of my dormitory landlord. I figured that if he remembers my kind gesture later, he might put in a good word for me, which can help me in my stay at their dormitory.
Ethical Egoism
Determine if its altruism egotism or egoism:
Example
Suppose there are three of us and we are on our way to class. While walking, we notice that a student has dropped his glasses and papers on the sidewalk. The student is frantically trying to catch the various bits, but he is largely ineffective due to his poor eyesight and general clumsiness. All three of us approach the student to help, and in a few seconds, he is back on his way to wherever he was supposed to be going. In that sense, all three of us seemed to have done some good.
Person A: I approached to help because I recognized the student as the son of my dormitory landlord. I figured that if he remembers my kind gesture later, he might put in a good word for me, which can help me in my stay at their dormitory.
Ethical Egoism
Example
Suppose there are three of us and we are on our way to class. While walking, we notice that a student has dropped his glasses and papers on the sidewalk. The student is frantically trying to catch the various bits, but he is largely ineffective due to his poor eyesight and general clumsiness. All three of us approach the student to help, and in a few seconds, he is back on his way to wherever he was supposed to be going. In that sense, all three of us seemed to have done some good.
Person A:Our other companion helped due to a mixture of group conformity and an urge to do some light stretching while picking up the student’s things.
Ethical Egotism
