PHLB07H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Joel Feinberg, Jesse Prinz, Egotism
Document Summary
The challenge of cultural relativism - james rachels. Morality is a socially constructed response - jesse prinz (optional) Two kinds of egoism: psychological egoism, ethical egoism. Descriptive claim - all people are in fact selfish all the times (hobbes). Normative claim - we all ought to look out for #1 (ayn rand). 5) we can"t ethically require that people act altruistically, so there"s no point practicing ethics. Not an ethics theory, it is a descriptive theory. My desires are always my desires, so i"m only ever trying to satisfy my own desires. Argument a) is a logical fallacy: the statement is a tautology: for every action i must be motivated by some desires/purpose that i am trying to satisfy. So i"m always trying to satisfy my desires/purposes: but this says nothing about the objects o my desires/purposes. I might have a desire that you get some pleasure.
