Egoism and Altruism

 

On Thu, May 11, 2017, 2:12 PM Grant Sterling [ ... ] [stoics] <stoics@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

"Steve and Dave bring up too many issues for me to even start to tackle in the time I have. So I'll settle for:

"Egoism and Altruism:

"The ordinary view (or both people today and people
in ancient times, so far as I can determine it) is as follows:

There are certain things that are good for me to
obtain. There are certain things that are good for other
people to obtain. Sometimes we can cooperate in ways that
will help both of us get what we want, but sometimes we can't.
In such situations, there are two basic moral principles:
1) There are basic moral rules that one must follow
in pursuing one's interest. Don't steal, rape, cheat, etc.
2) One is free to pursue good things for oneself
as long as one is not thereby depriving other people of
significantly _greater_ good things. If you and I are
competing for the championship of the local bridge league,
we are each free to exert all our efforts towards winning
(even though we would thereby deprive the other person of
the spoils of victory). But I must not pursue a bridge
championship if it would mean that you will die.

The "selfish" person insists on getting things for
himself, even:
a) when it will cost other people far more than
the value of what he obtains, and
b) when he must violate the rules to get them.
For example, the really selfish person will
demand immediate repayment for a loan from someone whose
child has just been hospitalized. The truly selfish
person will steal from his neighbor or cheat on his
taxes.

The normal person will pursue his own interests
as long as doing so will not cause substantially greater
loss to others or violate the rules. The normal person
will charge you rent for living in his property, but
won't evict you for non-payment in the middle of a
blizzard. He'll drive a hard bargain in negotiating a
contract, but won't violate the terms of the contract once
it's been made.

The altruistic person will actually sacrifice
his own interests to benefit other people even when the
benefit to others will not be as great as his own sacrifice.
He'll break his back working a second job so that you can
have the latest video game as soon as it comes out rather
than waiting until the price comes down.

On the ordinary point of view, being altruistic
is "nice" but is not morally required. In other words,
morality is divided between:

a) Acts that are _wrong_ (the acts of the selfish
person--seeking benefits for oneself even when it hurts
other people substantially, or breaking the rules of proper
behavior),
b) Acts that are morally permissible, which
satisfy one's duty, and
c) Acts that go above and beyond one's duty--morally
optional but admirable actions.

Basically, a morally good person never (well, hardly
ever) does anything in category 'a', and sometimes does
things in category 'c'. Only saints always or almost always
perform 'c' acts, and it isn't necessary to be a saint in
order to be a good person.

All of this collapses on the Stoic view, because
on the Stoic view it is impossible for there to be a conflict
between what's good for me and what's good for you. The
very basis for the distinction between selfish and altruistic
behavior is undermined. In ordinary morality, stealing your
car would be "selfish"--I would have your car (a good thing
for me), but you would lose your car (a bad thing for you).
This would be wrong, because it violates a moral rule.
But on the Stoic view, only Virtue is good. Since
stealing violates a moral rule (a fundamental "role-duty"
of all humans or citizens is to recognize the property of their
fellow humans or citizens), it is an act of vice, and is
therefore _bad_ for me.

"So like the "selfish" person, the Stoic _always_
seeks his own self-interest, his own good. And like the
"altruistic" person, the Stoic will often sacrifice money,
possessions, or even sometimes life itself to do the right
thing. But unlike both of them, the Stoic isn't making a
hard choice between competing values--the only value is
in doing the right thing."

"People have sometimes criticized Stoicism as a
selfish philosophy, on the grounds that the Stoic seeks
his own self-interest. Others have responded that Stoicism
is altruistic, because the demands of virtue sometimes
require self-sacrifice. Both the criticism and the response
misunderstand Stoic thought."

Regards,
Grant

"PS: Note that this also collapses the idea of "beyond
the call of duty". Because that idea requires there
to be good things to do that require so much sacrifice that
the good person isn't really required to do them. But
there are no such things, on Stoic thought."