2014-2-PHI110-06

__NOTITLE__ Studying 2014/2 PHI110: Philosophy, Morality and Society. Week 6. Undertaken Study Period 2, 2014. Content is quoted and/or summarised from the university website in fair dealing for purpose of research or study. See also: StudyWISE and AIMS.

Why be moral? Egoism and Self Interest Theories

This week, we begin with a challenge to morality posed by the character Glaucon in Plato's Republic. Glaucon argues that we only act morally because we fear the consequences of being caught acting immorally, so that if we could remain undetected (as Gyges could in the story) we would have no reason to act morally.

We will examine the question of whether we are in fact primarily motivated by self-interest, as Glaucon believes, and whether self interest can be reconciled with morality.

Links

Herewith a list of further reading:

Lectures

• Lecture 11
• Lecture 12

Notes

• Week 6: Lecture 11 (original)
• Week 6: Lecture 12 (original)

Questions

• Reading questions for week 6 (original)

Readings

Readings downloaded from e-Reserve.

• Plato. "The ring of Gyges" in Vice and Virtue in Everyday Life: Introductory Readings in Ethics, Sommers, Christina; Sommers, Fred, 1993, 445-450 (original)
• Rachels, James. "The idea of a social contract" in Elements of Moral Philosophy, Rachels, James, 1999, 143-161 (original)
• Feinberg, Joel. "Psychological egoism" in Ethical Theory: Classical and Contemporary Readings, Pojman, Louis P., 1995, 62-73 (original)
• Hobbes, Thomas. "The Leviathan" in Ethical Theory: Classical and Contemporary Readings, Pojman, Louis P., 1995, 53-61 (original)
• Nozick, Robert. "The experience machine" in Anarchy, State, and Utopia, Nozick, Robert, 1974, 42-45 (original)

Answers

TODO: answer the reading questions.

Activities

• Self Test Quiz - Week 06 Egoism and Self-Interest Theories
• Discussion forum for Week 6: Why be Moral? Egoism and Self-Interest Theories
• Week 6 review: What have you learnt? (original)

Work

TODO

Things to do, most important on top:

• Listen to the Lectures
• Read the Lecture notes
• Read the Questions
• Read the Readings
• Answer the Questions
• Do the Activities

Done

Things that are done, most recent on top:

Glossary

Herewith a list of new and/or interesting words and selected definitions: