1. ‘The achievement of his own happiness is man’s
highest moral purpose.’
Ayn Rand –TheVirtue of Selfishness

2.  Read through the handouts and discuss the
questions and ideas presented on
 Hedonism
 Psychological Egoism
 Egoistic Hedonism

3.  Watch video – Starvation
in Ethiopia (6mins)
 15,000 children every day
die of malnutrition
 5,500,000 every year

4.  Materialism rules supreme
 Watch video

5.  We could forego luxury spending and give
money to famine relief to help assist starving
children
 The fact that we don’t implies our luxuries are
more important than feeding/keeping alive
the hungry
 Why do we behave like this? - Discuss

6.  What is our duty?
 What should we do?
 Morality requires that we balance our own
interests against the interests of others
 Eg $100 dollars to go and watch a movie or
donate that money to relieve famine/provide
medicine and so help dying children
 Common sense – leads to famine relief

7.  The previous example leads to an
assumption of moral duties
 ‘we have ‘natural’ duties to others simply
because they are people who could be
helped or harmed by our actions’
 However, not everyone agrees with this

8.  The idea that each person ought to pursue his/her
own self-interest exclusively
 It differs from Psychological Egoism which is a theory
of human nature concerned with how people do
behave
 Ethical Egoism by contrast is a normative theory (a
theory about how we ought to behave)
 It argues we have no duty except to do what is best for
ourselves
 There is only one ultimate principle of conduct – the
principle of self-interest
 All duties and obligations are subject to self-interest
 Is this a self evident theory?

9.  Ethical Egoism does not say that
you should avoid actions that
help others
 It could be that by helping others
you help yourself
 ‘You scratch my back and I’ll
scratch yours’
 Or your interests coincide with
the interests of others and by
helping yourself you
inadvertently help others
 The important point is that in
such cases the benefit to others
is not what makes the action
right

10.  It is also important to realise it
doesn’t endorse the idea that we
ought always to do what we want
to
 Short term pleasures may be
harmful in the long run
 It doesn’t lead to a debauched
hedonistic lifestyle
 It says that a person really ought
to do what really is in his/her own
best advantage over the long run
– It endorses selfishness not
foolishness

11. 1. a) Each of us is intimately familiar with our own
individual needs and wants but we cannot know
the desires and needs of other people
b)The policy of looking out for others is an
offensive intrusion into other people’s privacy
c) Making other people the object of one’s ‘charity’
is degrading to them it robs them of their
dignity and self-respect
Discuss these claims

12.  The previous arguments amount to the idea
that a policy of ‘looking out for others’ is self
defeating

13. 2.The second argument was put
forward by Ayn Rand
 She argues the ethics of altruism
is a totally destructive idea both
in terms of society and individuals
taken in by it
 Altruism leads to a denial of the
value of the individual
‘ If a man accepts the ethics of
altruism…his first concern is not
how to live his life but how to
sacrifice it’
 Discuss the quote – watch video
(9)

14.  Rand is arguing along these lines
 A person has only one life to live. If we value the
individual – that is, if the individual has moral
worth – then we must agree that this life is of
supreme importance
 If your willing to sacrifice for the good of others
(altruism) you are not truly valuing the human
individual
 Therefore Ethical Egoism is the philosophy that
ought to be accepted

15.  1. Rachels argues that …Ethical Egoism cannot provide
solutions for conflicts of interest
 We need moral rules because our interests some
times come into conflict
 Read pg 91 – Booklet and summarise in your own
words this argument

16. 2. Ethical Egoism advocates that each of us divides the
world into two categories of people – ourselves and
the rest – and we regard the interests of the first
group as more important than the interests of the
second group
 But what is the difference between myself and others
that justifies placing myself in this special category
 Am I more intelligent?
 Do I enjoy my life more?
 Are my achievements greater?
 What makes me so special?
 Failing an answer Ethical Egoism is an arbitrary
doctrine

17.  Any moral doctrine that assigns greater importance to
interests of one group than to those of another is
unacceptably arbitrary unless there is some difference
between the members of the groups that justifies treating
them differently
 Therefore
 Ethical Egoism would have each person assign greater
importance to his or her own interests than to the
interests of others. But there is no general difference
between oneself and others, to which each person can
appeal, that justifies this difference in treatment
 Therefore
 Ethical Egoism is unacceptably arbitrary and not a valid
theory

18.  We should care about the interests of
others for the same reason we care about
our own interests – because their needs
and desires are the same as our own
 Consider again – the starving people we
could help to feed by giving up some of our
luxuries
 Why should we care about them?
 Because there is no difference between us
and them – we would go to any lengths to
feed ourselves if we were starving
 Their needs are the same as ours
 They are no less deserving than us – If our
needs should be met then so should theirs
 This realization that we are equal to one
another is the deepest reason why our
morality must include some recognition
of the needs of others and why Ethical
Egoism fails as a moral theory

19.  What arguments
does Peter Singer put
forward to contribute
to this debate
 Read the short
chapter in the
booklet to summarise
his ideas

20.  Read the main points given in the booklet
 Essay/Debate
Is it unreasonable to ask people to sacrifice
their own pleasures/luxuries for those in
poverty in other areas of the world?