Preparations
I survived all day meetings at school and so now can get down to the serious business of focusing on my real focus all week: preparing for the 327 Words Half-Century Ralleycat and my birthday party to follow.
Typically, I’m taking on way more than I should have in putting together these two consecutive events; on the other hand, I’m thrilled to be organizing a pair of occasions that, while they’re ostensibly all about me, are mostly intended to be forums for good times for people I care about and strangers, too.
It’s an open question, of course, whether or not my efforts can be construed altruistically, even though I think they are.
Psychological egoism is the view that nothing we do is ever done for any reason than our own gratification. According to psychological egoism, even Mother Theresa was acting selfishly when she devoted her life to the care of orphans in the Calcutta slums. The problem with this view, however, is that it doesn’t allow us to distinguish between someone who devotes her life to caring for others and, say, Donald Trump. So, as philosopher Joel Feinberg has reminded us, being able to make a distinction between “selfish” and “self-interested” is valuable.
Thus, I can say I’m being self-interested when I try to create events intended to give other people pleasure without having to assert that I’m being selfish when I do so.
Robert Nozick's “experience machine” thought experiment supposedly allows us to see this more clearly. The scenario here is to wonder whether you would be willing to hook up for the rest of your life to a machine that produces in you absolutely real ideal experiences rather than experience a real-world life filled with all the usual frustrations and boredoms we all experience.
If you wouldn’t hook up, that seems to indicate that perhaps we are motivated by unselfish concerns.
So, I’m not Mother Theresa, but at least I’m not Donald Trump, either.
Typically, I’m taking on way more than I should have in putting together these two consecutive events; on the other hand, I’m thrilled to be organizing a pair of occasions that, while they’re ostensibly all about me, are mostly intended to be forums for good times for people I care about and strangers, too.
It’s an open question, of course, whether or not my efforts can be construed altruistically, even though I think they are.
Psychological egoism is the view that nothing we do is ever done for any reason than our own gratification. According to psychological egoism, even Mother Theresa was acting selfishly when she devoted her life to the care of orphans in the Calcutta slums. The problem with this view, however, is that it doesn’t allow us to distinguish between someone who devotes her life to caring for others and, say, Donald Trump. So, as philosopher Joel Feinberg has reminded us, being able to make a distinction between “selfish” and “self-interested” is valuable.
Thus, I can say I’m being self-interested when I try to create events intended to give other people pleasure without having to assert that I’m being selfish when I do so.
Robert Nozick's “experience machine” thought experiment supposedly allows us to see this more clearly. The scenario here is to wonder whether you would be willing to hook up for the rest of your life to a machine that produces in you absolutely real ideal experiences rather than experience a real-world life filled with all the usual frustrations and boredoms we all experience.
If you wouldn’t hook up, that seems to indicate that perhaps we are motivated by unselfish concerns.
So, I’m not Mother Theresa, but at least I’m not Donald Trump, either.
posted by Professor Dave at 10:50 PM
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