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Criticism of Altruism: A Philosophical Analysis

Objections to Altruism

  1. Reconstruct argument III on Rand's claims about Altruism on p. 142 in your textbook in premise and conclusion form. Arguments I and II are for examples:

I. Rand presents the following criticisms of Altruism: IMItruism permits no concept of a self-respecting, self-supporting man—a man who supports his life by his own effort and neither sacrifices himself nor others. It means that altruism permits no view of men except as sacrificial animals and profiteers-on-sacrifice, as victims and parasites—that it permits no concept of a benevolent co-existence among men—that it permits no concept of justice. (page 140) 


Here is one possible reconstruction of her intended argument that Altruism is mistaken: 1. If a society were organized according to Altruistic principles, there would not be a benevolent co-existence among individuals. a. A society in which there is no benevolent co-existence among individuals is a society without justice. 3. Therefore, if a society were organized according to Altruistic principles, it would lack justice. 4. If a society organized according to Altruistic principles would lack justice, then Altruism is mistaken. 5. Therefore, Altruism is mistaken. 

II. Rand provides the following objection to Altruism: Since nature does not provide man with an auto-matic form of survival, since he has to support his life by his own effort, the doctrine that concern with one's own interests is evil means that man's desire to live is evil—that man's life, as such, is evil. No doc-trine could be more evil than that. (page 140) Here is one possible reconstruction of the argument: i. If Altruism is true, then it is evil for people to be concerned with their own interests. 2. People have to be concerned with their own interests in order to survive. 3. If it is evil for people to be concerned with their own interests, then it is evil for people to be concerned with their own survival. 4. If Altruism is true, then it is evil for people to be concerned with their own survival [from i and 2). 5. It is not evil for people to be concerned with their own survival. 6. Therefore, Altruism is false. 

142 UNIT TWO: FOUNDATIONS OF ETHICS 
[Alltruism permits no concept of a self-respecting, self-supporting man—a man who supports his life by his own effort and neithersacrifices himself norothers. It means that altruism permits no view of men except as sacrificial animals and profiteers-on-sacrifice, as victims and parasites—that it permits no concept of a benevolent co-existence among men—that it permits no concept of justice. (page 140) II. Rand provides the following objection to Altruism. Identify the premises and conclusion in this excerpt. Since nature does not provide man with an auto-matic form of survival, since he has to support his life by his own effort, the doctrine that concern with ones own interests is evil means that man's desire to live is evil—that man's life, as such, is evil. No doctrine could be more evil than that. (page 140) III. Rand claims that Altruism has some clearly mistaken implications. Using her observations as premises, construct an argument for the conclusion that Altruism is false. 


Observe the indecency of what passes for moral judgments today. An industrialist who produces a 
fortune, and a gangster who robs a bank are regarded as equally immoral, since they both sought wealth for their own -selfish° benefit. A young man who gives up his career in order to support his parents and never rises beyond the rank of grocery clerk is regarded as morally superior to the young man who endures an excruciating struggle and achieves his personal ambition. (page 140) IV. A theory that is closely related to Ethical Egoism is Psychological Egoism, which claims that whenever we act our ultimate goal is to do what is best for ourselves.

Identify the premises and conclusion in this argument for Ethical Egoism on the basis of Psychological Egoism. Each of us is such that, whenever we act, our ulti-mate end is to do what is best for ourselves. That's just our nature. Every moral theory, other than Ethical Egoism, requires us to sometimes act in a way that is not best for ourselves and thus in a way that is con-trary to our natural inclination. Any moral theory that requires us to act in a way contrary to our natu-ral indination is mistaken. Ethical Egoism then is the only correct moral theory.

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