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Lesson II
Morality and psychological
development
A/ Egoism vs Altruism
Callicles’ challenge:
Both among the other animals and in
whole cities and races of men, nature
shows that this is what justice has been
decided to be: that the superior rule the
inferior and have a greater share than
they.
A/ Egoism vs Altruism
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Are we moral egoists?
Does altruism exist within nature? Is it
genuine altruism? What about within
human nature?
When acting for our own interest, is it
always egoism the best strategy?
Why ought we act the way nature is?
A/ Egoism vs Altruism
Joker’s social experiment
A/ Egoism vs Altruism
The prisoner’s dilemma
Two members of a criminal gang are arrested and
imprisoned. Each prisoner is in solitary confinement with no
means of speaking to or exchanging messages with the other. The
police admit they don't have enough evidence to convict the pair
on the principal charge. They plan to sentence both to a year in
prison on a lesser charge. Simultaneously, the police offer each
prisoner a bargain. Here's how it goes:
If A and B both confess the crime, each of them serves 2
years in prison
If A confesses but B denies the crime, A will be set free
whereas B will serve 3 years in prison (and vice versa)
If A and B both deny the crime, both of them will only
serve 1 year in prison
A/ Egoism vs Altruism
The prisoner’s dilemma shows that
egoism does not always produces the best
outcome, some situations require
cooperation. The fact that “man is wolf to
man” does not entail that society ought to
reproduce the natural “war of all against
all” as Callicles states. But is this “useful”
or “interested” cooperation genuine
altruism? Even if our nature is selfish,
ought we act selfishly?
A/ Egoism vs Altruism
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Psychological egoism: each person has
but one ultimate aim, her own welfare.
Ethical egoism: it is necessary and
sufficient for an action to be morally right
(that is, “rational”) that it maximizes one’s
self interest.
A/ Egoism vs Altruism
- Evolutionary altruism: the behavior of an
organism is altruistic if it reduces its own fitness
while increasing the fitness of one or more
organisms. In fact, cooperation and sacrifice are
good biological strategies within certain
contexts.
- Psychological altruism: empathy, an otheroriented emotional reaction to seeing someone
suffer, which would incline persons to engage in
helping behavior.
A/ Egoism vs Altruism
It seems obvious that altruistic behavior (in an
evolutionary and psychological sense) exists, but
what about the nature of the motivation for
the helping behavior? Does morality depend on
facts? If altruistic behavior is instinctive, is it
“good” in a moral sense, is it genuine moral
altruism?
- Moral altruism: disinterested giving to others
because it is right.
B/ The naturalistic fallacy
There is something misguided from the very beginning
about wondering whether human nature is egoist or
altruistic, or both, because “is” does not logically
imply “ought”.
This is the naturalistic fallacy: infering evaluative
conclusions without at least one evaluative premise.
Man is egoist (psychological egoism) does not imply man
ought to be egoist (moral egoism).
Man is altruist (psychological egoism) does not imply
man ought to be altruist (moral altruism).
What is then specifically moral? If morality relies on nature,
how can there be any moral progress, if the only
argument for cooperation is the social contract
argument, how can we make sense then of civil
disobedience, of a violation of the social contract
which nonetheless is fair, is right, is good?
C/ Kolhberg’s theory
Heinz’s dilemma
A woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There
was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It
was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had
recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but
the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him
to produce. He paid $200 for the radium and charged
$2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman's
husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the
money, but he could only get together about $1,000 which
is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was
dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later.
But the druggist said: “No, I discovered the drug and I'm
going to make money from it.” So Heinz got desperate and
broke into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife.
Should Heinz have broken into the laboratory to steal
the drug for his wife? Why or why not?
C/ Kolhberg’s theory of moral
development
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The Heinz dilemma shows that there are
crucial features of our moral reasoning which
enable us to adequately handle dilemmas in
which there is a universal consensus about the
right thing to do, but not about what makes it
right.
Kohlberg states that we begin life with an
egocentric point of view which may or may not
reach superior moral stages which entail an
increasingly genuine altruistic or other-regarding
moral perspective.
C/ Kolhberg’s theory
Level A - Preconventional
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Stage 1: The stage of punishment and
obedience. One’s only reason for doing what is
right is to avoid punishment. Others are
irrelevant to one except insofar as they have an
influence upon one’s well-being.
Stage 2: The stage of individual
instrumental purpose and exchange. One
pursues his own interests while acknowledging
that others have interests, and it is deemed right
far all individuals to pursue them. One’s only
reason to do what is right is to advance one’s
own interests. Conflicts are to be resolved
through instrumental exchange of services.
C/ Kolhberg’s theory
Level B - Conventional
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Stage 3: The stage of mutual expectations,
relationships and conformity. The
expectations of others become important, one is
able to put oneself into the other’s position.
Doing what is right means living up to the
expectations of those who are close to one.
Stage 4: The stage of social system and
conscience maintenance. One is loyal to
one’s social institutions. Doing what is right
means fulfilling one’s institutional duties and
obligations. One does what is right in order to
maintain one’s institutions.
C/ Kolhberg’s theory
Level C – Postconventional, principled level
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Stage 5: The stage of prior rights and social
contract. There are values and rights (life and liberty)
which do not owe their importance to social institutions
but must be upheld in any society. Doing what is right
means acting in accordance with the values of one’s
society because as a rational creature one is obligated to
abide by the precepts widely accepted and impartially
adhered to.
Stage 6: The stage of universal ethical principles.
There are universal ethical principles that all should
follow, and which take priority over all legal and other
institutional obligations. Doing what is right is acting in
accordance with these principles. One does what is right
because as a rational creature one grasps the validity of
these principles and is committed to following them.
C/ Kolhberg’s theory of moral
development
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Stage
Stage
Stage
Stage
Stage
Stage
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
Heteronomy.
Individualism.
Interpersonal expectations.
Social system and conscience.
Social contract.
Universal ethical principles.