Ethics Egoism
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School
Humber College *
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Course
2090
Subject
Philosophy
Date
Jan 9, 2024
Type
docx
Pages
3
Uploaded by Troblea
You have been journeying for days, following the completion of a quest that has left you with the gratitude of the people whom you saved from a violent beast ravaging the countryside, but nothing else.
You are penniless and hungry. For the past few hours, a farmer, who looks quite anxious, has been walking on the same country road up ahead of you.
At one point, you notice that a gleaming red object falls out of a pouch fastened to the farmer’s waist belt. As the farmer walks on, unaware that they have dropped the object, you approach it, and discover that it is a rare and highly valuable gem. You consider calling out, but after reflecting upon your situation
for a moment, you pocket the gem and continue on your way.
Sometime afterward, the farmer ahead of you realizes that they have dropped the gem, turns arounds, and rushes in the direction from which you both came. You continue on your way without stopping him, and after a few hours, you arrive at a large city, where you immediately find a jewellery shop and sell the gem for a large sum of money, which allows you to secure luxurious food and lodgings.
The next day, while enjoying an outrageously expensive meal at a well-to-do tavern, you overhear two people talking about a nearby farmer who had promised to make a mortgage payment with a valuable red gem (a family heirloom), but failed to do so, and that the bank consequently foreclosed on the mortgage, which would leave the farmer and the farmer’s large family without a home. You feel terrible,
and think to yourself, “I wish I could turn back time to that moment when I took the dropped gem, to make a different choice!”
At that moment, a mysterious, sinister-looking figure approaches you and says to you (having read your mind): “I can turn back time to that exact moment when you took the dropped gem. Absolutely everything will be just as it was just before you made the choice to take the gem. Shall I make it so?”
You are overjoyed, and agree to be transported back in time. The mysterious figures does exactly what they said they would do. Everything is exactly as it was just before you made the choice to take the gem – including you! You have no memories of anything that happened from after the moment you took the gem the first time. You are exactly
the same
person you were just before you took it. Every thought and feeling in you is exactly what it was the first time around, before
travelling to the city, selling the gem, and learning about the fate of the farmer who lost it.
The mysterious figure laughs a malicious laugh, and then says: “Another naïve person who thinks that they have the freedom to behave in different ways under one and the same set of initial conditions! There is no free will, and the adventurer will make exactly the same choice they did the first time!”
Discussion Activity Questions:
1.
Do you agree or disagree with the mysterious figure’s prediction and reasoning concerning the actions of the person you were asked to imagine yourself as in the thought experiment? Do we have the freedom to act in different ways under one and same set of circumstances, or does that set of circumstances determine one and only one possible course of action for us?
2.
Psychological egoism is a descriptive theory of human behaviour according to which we are psychologically hardwired awlays to secure our own benefit in every circumstance. Do you agree
with this theory, and so think that everyone would do what the adventurer did and take the gem if it were what would benefit them? Or do you think it is possible to act in genuinely altruistic ways (i.e., from a purely other-regarding motive, to secure another person’s benefit, regardless of our own benefit)?
In this scenario, I agree with the mysterious figure’s prediction and reasoning regarding the adventurer’s actions in this thought experiment. While I would like to believe that people change
their actions when they realize that they have done things to hurt another, just like the adventurer
in this story did after hearing the story of the farmer. This change comes after a reflection on our actions. We reflect on what we have done and then decide that we want to do better, hence, the change in our actions. In this case, the adventurer is being transported back to the same circumstances when he takes the gem that belonged to the farmer. The adventurer had ample time to have reflected on his actions in this story but he still chose to act in his own best interest. If he was going to return the gem to the farmer, he had two opportunities where he could have done so but chose not to. I think that no matter how many times the adventurer gets transported back in time, he is going to choose the same option of pocketing the gems because the circumstances remain the same, with the same set of conditions as the initial time. Psychological egoism is a descriptive theory that suggests individuals are naturally inclined to act in their own self-interest in every circumstance. The theory postulates that peoples always have a self-benefiting motive for their decisions and acts. While the theorists of psychological egoism believe that self-interest plays a very great role in how we make decisions about choices, I believe that it is possible for some people to act in altruistic ways. I disagree with the theory and do not think everyone would do as the adventurer. Some people based on their values,
morals, and or beliefs would have probably called out to the farmer to return his gems to him. Or
at the very least, when seeing the farmer rushing back, would have found a way to return the gem
to him.
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