Ethics notes from Tues. 2/5/02 by Jesse Billow

Thursday 2/7 is the first test. Bring a pencil, eraser, and a 3x5 card with notes.(Divine command theory will not be covered on this test.)

"Fountain Head"- Rand's version of egoism is characterized by individualism, non-conformity, integrity (not compromising one's principles), cooperation vs. compromise.
The movie implies that people who trumpet altruism (doing for the sake of others; usually involving self-sacrifice) are looking to control and enslave others. For dirt on Rand, read "why people believe weird things" by Michael Shermer.

Gyge's ring (The Republic)- Glaucon asks, "why be moral?" He says that the reason is because people are afraid of punishment. But, he claims that punishment depends on getting caught. What if one could break all the rules and never get caught? Glaucon asserts that all people would steal, cheat, and seduce others, etc. if they knew they could get away with it. Further, he says people would be foolish not to.

So, the question seems to be: Why be moral?

Some might say God or Karma, but Glaucon would demand proof of God before considering changing his mind. Others could site conscience or guilt as reasons for being moral, but Glaucon would reply that guilt is a product of social programming. Egoists would cite self-interest as a reason for being moral. Another reason for being moral may simply be: because we should.

Rachel's article for egoism: p.551- 1. We can satisfy our own desires best. (As opposed to someone else guessing). 2. Helping others is a violation of their freedom of privacy. 3. Charity is degrading to the recipient.

Objections to egoism: 1. Some people want help and are thankful for it. 2. Utilitarian view of individuals maximizing happiness assumes a best interest of society, which is not egoist at all. 3. One must be secretive to be an egoist. (one must pretend to be altruistic (to minimize competition with other egoists) while truly only looking out for one's self.

For the test, be aware of Pojman's suckers, cheaters, and grudgers analogy in his article on egoism.

At the end of class we barely touched on Hobbe's social contract theory (what's moral is what's legal.) We choose to live in a society and to obey rules and laws only because we are concerned with our own safety.

State of nature- before society with laws there was no right or wrong; there was only self-preservation. People were in a constant state of war against each other. Life was miserable and short.