EGOISM
95. WHAT IS EGOISM?--Egoism has been defined as "any ethical system in
which the happiness or good of the individual is made the main criterion
of moral action," [Footnote: _Encyclopedia Britannica_, 11th
edition.] or as "the doing or seeking of that which affords pleasure or
advantage to oneself, in distinction to that which affords pleasure or
advantage to others." [Footnote: _Century Dictionary_.]
It may strike the average reader as odd to be told that such definitions
bristle with ambiguities, and that it is by no means easy to draw a sharp
line between doctrines which everyone would admit to be egoistic, and
others which seem more doubtfully to fall under that head. "Happiness,"
"good," "advantage," "self," all are terms which call for scrutiny, and
which set pitfalls for the unwary.
96. CRASS EGOISMS.--We may best approach the subject of what may properly
be regarded as constituting egoism, by turning first to one or two
"terrible examples."
No one would hesitate to call egoistic the doctrine of Aristippus, the
Cyrenaic, the errant disciple of Socrates. He made pleasure the end of
life, and taught that it might be sought without a greater regard to
customary morality than was made prudent by the penalties to be feared as
a consequence of its violation. Where the centre of gravity of the system
of the Cyrenaics falls is evident from their holding that "corporeal
pleasures are superior to mental ones," and that "a friend is desirable
for the use which we can make of him." [Footnote: Diogenes Laertius,
_Lives of the Philosophers,_ "Aristippus," viii.]
The doctrine of the English philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, is as
unequivocally egoistic.
"Of the voluntary acts of every man," he writes, [Footnote:
_Leviathan,_ Part I, xiv.] "the object is some good to himself;" and
again, [Footnote _Ibid_. xv.] "no man giveth, but with intention of
good to himself; because gift is voluntary; and of all voluntary acts the
object is to every man his own good."
He leaves us in no doubt as to the sort of good which he conceives men to
seek when they practice what has the appearance of generosity. Contract
he calls a mutual transference of rights, and he distinguishes gift from
contract as follows:
"When the transferring of right is not mutual, but one of the parties
transferreth, in hope to gain thereby friendship, or service from
another, or from his friends, or in hope to gain the reputation of
charity or magnanimity, _or to deliver his mind from the pain of
compassion_, or in hope of reward in heaven, this is not contract but
gift, free gift, grace, which words signify the same thing." [Footnote:
_Ibid_. I, xiv. The italics are mine. It was thus that Hobbes
accounted for his giving a sixpence to a beggar: "I was in pain to
consider the miserable condition of the old man; and now my alms, giving
him some relief, doth also ease me." _Hobbes_, by G. C. ROBERTSON,
Edinburgh, 1886, p. 206.]
There is a passage from the pen of the British divine, Paley, which
appears to merit a place alongside of the citations from Hobbes, widely
as the men differ in many of their views. It reads:
"We can be obliged to nothing but what we ourselves are to gain or lose
something by; for nothing else can be a 'violent motion' to us. As we
should not be obliged to obey the laws, or the magistrate, unless rewards
or punishments, pleasure or pain, somehow or other, depended upon our
obedience; so neither should we, without the same reason, be obliged to
do what is right, to practice virtue, or to obey the commandments of
God." [Footnote: _Moral Philosophy,_ Book II, chapter ii.]
97. EQUIVOCAL EGOISM?--The above is unquestionably egoism. The man who
accepts such a doctrine and consistently walks in the light must be set
down as self-seeking. But self-seeking, as understood by different men,
appears to take on different aspects. Shall we class all those who
frankly accept it as man's only ultimate motive with Aristippus and
Epicurus and Hobbes?
Thomas Hill Green writes: "Anything conceived as good in such a way that
the agent acts for the sake of it, must be conceived as his own good."
[Footnote: _Prolegomena to Ethics,_ Sec 92.] The motive to action is,
he maintains, always "some idea of the man's personal good." [Footnote: Sec
Sec 95, 97.] He does not hesitate to say that a man necessarily lives for
himself; [Footnote: Sec 138.] and he calls "the human self or the man"
[Footnote: Sec 99.] a self-seeking ego, a self-seeking subject, and a self-
seeking person. [Footnote: Sec Sec 98, 100, 145.]
Were Green's book a lost work, only preserved to the memories of men by
such citations as the above, the author would certainly be relegated to a
class of moralists with which he had, in fact, little sympathy.
But the book is not lost, and by turning to it we find Green continuing
the first of the above citations with the words: "Though he may conceive
it as his own good only on account of his interest in others, and in
spite of any amount of suffering on his own part incidental to its
attainment." He is willing to grant the self-seeking ego an eye single to
its own interests, but he is careful to explain that: "These are not
merely interests dependent on other persons for the means to their
gratification, but interests in the good of those other persons,
interests which cannot be satisfied without the consciousness that those
other persons are satisfied." [Footnote: Sec 199.]
When Hobbes gave an account of "the passions that incline men to peace,"
[Footnote: _Leviathan,_ I, xiii.] he made no mention of the social
nature of man. That nature Green conceives to be so essentially social
that the individual cannot disentangle his own good from the good of his
fellows. To live "for himself," since that self is a social self, means
to live for others. May this fairly be called egoistic doctrine?
98. WHAT IS MEANT BY THE SELF?--It is sufficiently clear that the
happiness, or good, or advantage, or interests of the individual or self
may mean many things. It is equally clear that in our interpretation of
all such terms our notions of the nature of the self will play no
inconsiderable role. What is the self?
In his famous chapter on the Consciousness of Self, [Footnote:
_Psychology,_ New York, 1890, I, chapter x.] William James
enumerates four senses of the word. With three of these we may profitably
occupy ourselves here. He calls them the Material Self, the Social Self
and the Spiritual Self.
The innermost part of the material self he makes our body, and next to
it, in their order, he places our clothes, our family, our home, and our
property. They contribute to our being what we are in our own eyes, we
identify ourselves with them, and we experience "a sense of the shrinkage
of our personality" when even the more outlying elements, such as our
possessions, are lost. "Our immediate family," he writes, "is a part of
ourselves. Our father and mother, our wife and babes, are bone of our
bone and flesh of our flesh. When they die, a part of our very selves is
gone. If they do anything wrong, it is our shame. If they are insulted,
our anger flashes forth as readily as if we stood in their place."
It is obvious that the limits of the material self, as above understood,
may be indefinitely extended. There are men who feel about their country
as the average normal man feels about his home; and doubtless the
suffering of a stray beggar tugged at the heart of St. Francis as the
misfortune of wife or child does in the case of other men. How far abroad
our "interests" are to be found, and just what "interests" we shall
regard as intimately and peculiarly our own, depends upon what we are.
The Social Self James describes as the recognition a man gets from his
mates: "We are not only gregarious animals, liking to be in the sight of
our fellows, but we have an innate propensity to get ourselves noticed,
and noticed favorably, by our kind." Men certainly regard their fame or
honor as to be included among their interests, and they may value and
seek to obtain the good opinion of a very little clique or of a much
wider circle.
By the Spiritual Self is meant our qualities of mind and character--"the
most enduring and intimate part of the Self, that which we most verily
seem to be." Our interest in these it is impossible to overlook, and
their cultivation and development may become a ruling passion.
James's illuminating pages make clear that he who speaks of the advantage
or interest of the individual may have in mind predominantly any one of
these aspects of the Self, or all of them conjointly. The Self as he
conceives it may be a narrow one, or it may be a very broad one.
99. EGOISM AND THE BROADER SELF.--It may with some plausibility be
maintained that he who lives for himself may not properly be regarded as
an egoist and called selfish, if his Self is sufficiently expanded. May
it not, theoretically, include as much of the universe as is known to
man? And where can a man seek ends of any sort beyond this broad field?
On this view, all men are, in a sense, self-seeking, but only those are
reprehensibly self-seeking who have narrow and scanty selves.
But common sense and the common usage of speech do not sanction such
statements as that a man necessarily lives for himself and that all men
are self-seeking. It is justly recognized that some men with broad
interests--of a sort--are self-seeking, and that some others with great
limitations are not.
He who has property scattered over four continents and watches with
absorbing interest all movements upon the political and economic stage
may nevertheless be a thorough-going egoist. The breadth of his horizon
will not redeem him. One may look far afield and live laborious days in
the pursuit of fame, and be egoistic to the back-bone, although one's
interests, in this case, include even the contents of the minds of
generations yet unborn. One may forego many pleasures and concentrate all
one's efforts upon the attainment of intellectual eminence or of a
virtuous character, and yet seem to have a claim to the name of egoist.
That even the pursuit of virtue may take an egoistic turn has frequently
been recognized: "Woe betides that man," writes Dewey, "who having
entered upon a course of reflection which leads to a clearer conception
of his own moral capacities and weaknesses, maintains that thought as a
distinct mental end, and thereby makes his subsequent acts simply means
to improving or perfecting his moral nature." [Footnote: _Ethics_,
chapter xviii, Sec 3, p. 384.] He characterizes this as one of the worst
kinds of selfishness. The task set himself by the egoist who aims at
outshining his fellows in an unselfish self-forgetfulness would seem to
be a particularly difficult one; yet we have all met persons who appear
to be animated by some such desire.
100. Egoism not Unavoidable.--On such cases as the above the common
judgment can hardly be in doubt. But there are cases more questionable.
Was Hobbes really self-seeking when he gave the sixpence to the old
beggar? Is it egoism that leads the young mother to give herself the
exquisite pleasure of feeding and caring for her babes? or that induces
the patriot to die for his country? To be sure, both the babes and the
fatherland may fall within the limits of the self, as the psychologist
has broadly defined it.
But they fall within it only in a sense. No doctrine of the mutual
inclusion of selves can obliterate the distinction between self and
neighbor, and make my neighbor _merely_ a part of myself. The common
opinion of mankind is not at fault in basing upon the distinction between
selves the further distinction between egoism and altruism. Whatever
interests the egoist may have, his ultimate motive to action
_cannot_ be the recognition of the desire or will of another. Such
can be the motive of the altruist.
Human motives are of many sorts, and just what they are it is not always
easy to discover. Cornelia, in exhibiting her "jewels," may have been
puffed up with pride. When Cyrano de Bergerac threw, with a noble
gesture, his purse to the players, his "Mais quel geste!" reveals that he
was a player himself and was "showing off." There may be spectacular
patriots, who are willing to suffer the extreme penalty for the sake of a
place in history. But all maternal affection is not identical with pride;
all generous impulses cannot be traced to vanity; all patriotism is not
spectacular; nor is the motive to the relief of suffering necessarily the
removal of one's own pain. It is one thing to hire Lazarus not to exhibit
himself in his shocking plight on our front porch, and it is a distinctly
different thing to be concerned about the needs of Lazarus _per se_.
It is obvious, then, that it is only by a straining of language that one
can say that man necessarily lives for himself, or is unavoidably self-
seeking. He who makes such statements overlooks the fact that, even if is
true that, in a sense, a man's self may be regarded as coextensive with
all that interests him, it is equally true that different selves are
mutually exclusive and that the good of one may serve as the ultimate
motive in determining the action of another. The ethnologist is compelled
to recognize altruistic impulses in men primitive and in men civilized:
"Of the doctrine of self-interest as the primary and only genuine human
motive, it is sufficient to say that it bears no relation to the facts of
human nature, and implies an incorrect view of the origin of instinct."
[Footnote: HOBHOUSE, _Morals in Evolution_, p. 16]
101. Varieties of Egoism.--The egoist may set his affections upon
pleasure, and become a representative of Egoistic Hedonism, the variety
of egoism normally treated as typical and made the subject of criticism
in ethical treatises. But there is nothing to prevent him from making his
aim, not so much pleasure, as self-preservation; or from taking as his
goal wealth, power, reputation, intellectual or moral attainment, or what
not. [Footnote: Thus, Hobbes made his end self-preservation; Spinoza
takes much the same position; Nietzsche makes that which is aimed at,
power.]
So long as the motives which impel him to get, to avoid, to be, or to do,
something, do not include, except as means to some ulterior end, the
desire or will of his fellow-man, there appears no reason to deny him the
title of "Egoist." Nor need we deny him the title because he may be
unconscious of his egoism. There are unconscious egoists who are wholly
absorbed in the individual objects which are the end of their strivings.
They may be quite unaware that they are ruled by self-interest, when it
is clear to the spectator that such is the case. [Footnote: James,
_Psychology_, Vol. I, chapter x, pp. 319-321; a baby is
characterized as "the completest egoist."] But the philosophical egoist
must rise to a higher plane of reflection.
There are, thus, egoisms of many sorts, and they may urge men to very
different courses of conduct. Some of them may pass over more naturally
than others into forms of doctrine which are not egoistic at all. He who
aims at a maximum of pleasure for himself is likely to remain an egoist;
he whose ambition is to be a patron of science or a philanthropist, may,
it is true, remain within the circle of the self, but it is quite
possible that his ulterior aim may come to be forgotten and his real
interest be transferred to the enlightenment of mankind or to the relief
of suffering.
It is especially worthy of remark that in judging a system of doctrine we
must take it as a whole, and not confine ourselves to a few utterances of
the man who urges it, however unequivocal they may appear when taken in
isolation. He whose motive to action is always some idea of his own
personal good is an egoist. But a philosopher may hold that human motives
are always of this sort, and yet reveal unmistakably, both in his life
and in his writings, that he is not really an egoist at all. In which
case, we may tax him with more or less inconsistency, but we should not
misconceive him.
102. THE ARGUMENTS FOR EGOISM.--So much for the forms of egoism. It
remains to enquire what may be urged in favor of the doctrine, and what
may be said against it.
(1) It has been urged that egoism is inevitable. This, to be sure, can
scarcely be regarded as an argument that a man _ought_ to be an
egoist, for there seems little sense in telling a man that he ought to do
what he cannot possibly help doing. But the argument may be used to deter
us from advocating some other ethical doctrine.
"On the occasion of every act that he exercises," says Bentham, "every
human being is led to pursue that line of conduct which, according to his
view of the case, taken by him at the moment, will be in the highest
degree contributory to his own greatest happiness." [Footnote: _The
Constitutional Code_. Introduction, Sec 2.]
From this we might conclude, not only that every man is an egoist, but
also that every man is at all times a prudent and calculating egoist--
which seems to flatter grossly the drunkard and the excited man laying
about him in blind fury. But one may hold that egoism is inevitable
without going so far. [Footnote: Psychological Hedonism, the doctrine
that "volition is always determined by pleasures or pains actual or
prospective," need not be thus exaggerated. See SIDGWICK's _Methods of
Ethics_, I, iv, Sec 1.]
(2) The egoistic ideal may be urged upon us on the ground that it
addresses itself to man as natural and reasonable.
Thus, the Cyrenaics saw in the fact that we are from our childhood
attracted to pleasure, and, when we have attained it, seek no further, a
proof that pleasure is the chief good. [Footnote: _Diogenes
Laertius_, II, "Aristippus," Sec 8.] Paley maintains that, when it has
been pointed out that private happiness has been the motive of an act,
"no further question can reasonably be asked." [Footnote: _Moral
Philosophy_, II, Sec 3.] Our citations from Hobbes and Bentham and Green
reveal that these writers never think of giving reasons why a man should
seek his own good.
And various moralists, who do not make self-interest the one fundamental
principle which should rule human conduct, are evidently loath to make of
it a principle subordinate to some other. Bishop Butler, who maintains
that virtue consists in the pursuit of right and good as such, yet holds
that: "When we sit down in a cool hour, we can neither justify to
ourselves this nor any other pursuit till we are convinced that it will
be for our happiness, or at least not contrary to it." [Footnote:
_Sermon_ XI.] Clarke, who dwells upon the eternal and immutable
obligations of morality "incumbent on men from the very nature and reason
of things themselves" teaches that it is not reasonable for men to adhere
to virtue if they receive no advantage from it. [Footnote: _Boyle
Lectures_, 1705, Prop. I.]
The moral here seems to be that, whatever else a man ought to do, he
ought to seek his own advantage--real self-sacrifice cannot be his duty.
This conviction of the unreasonableness of self-sacrifice reveals itself
in another form in the doctrine that morality cannot be made completely
rational unless a reconciliation between prudence and benevolence can be
found; [Footnote: SIDGWICK, _The Methods of Ethics_, concluding
chapter, Sec 5.] and in the labored attempts to show that the good of the
individual must actually coincide with that of the community. [Footnote:
_E. g._ GREEN, _Prolegomena to Ethics_, Sec Sec 244-245. Aristotle
tries to prove that he who dies for his country is impelled by self-love.
He does what is honorable, and thus "gives the greater good to himself."
_Ethics_, Book IX, chapter viii.] It may be questioned whether the
same conviction did not lurk in the back of the mind of that sternest of
moralists, Kant, who denied that happiness ought to be sought at all, and
yet found so irrational the divorce of virtue and happiness that he
postulated a God to guarantee their union. [Footnote: _The Critique of
the Practical Reason_, chapter ii.]
Thus, moralists of widely different schools agree in recognizing that
self-interest is a principle that should not be placed second to any
other. The confessed egoist only goes a step further in recognizing it as
a principle that has no rival. And that men generally are inclined to
regard egoism as not unnatural seems evinced by the fact that for
apparently altruistic actions they are very apt to seek ulterior egoistic
motives, while, if the action seems plainly egoistic, they seek no
further.
Does, then, anything seem more natural than egoism? and, if natural, may
it not be assumed to be proper and right?
(3) Finally, it may be urged that he who serves his own interests at all
intelligently has, at least, a comprehensive aim, and does not live at
random. In so far, egoism appears to be rational in a sense dwelt on
above; [Footnote: Sec Sec 55-56] it harmonizes and unifies the impulses and
desires of the man.
103. THE ARGUMENT AGAINST EGOISM.--What may be said against egoism?
(1) Enough has been said above to show that egoism is not inevitable, but
that men actually are influenced by motives which cannot be regarded as
egoistic. It is, hence, not necessary to dwell upon this point.
(2) As to the naturalness of egoism. Both the professional moralist and
the man in the street may hesitate to admit that a man should neglect his
own interests, and may find it natural that he should cultivate them
assiduously. But it is only the exceptional man who maintains that he
should have nothing else in view.
There are individuals so constituted that self-interest makes to them a
peculiarly strong appeal. Others, more social by nature, may be misled by
psychological theory to maintain that a man's chief and only end is his
own "satisfaction." [Footnote: See below, chapter xxvi, 3.] Still others,
realizing that both one's own interests and the interests of one's
neighbor are natural and seemingly legitimate objects of regard, are
perplexed as to the method of reconciling their apparently conflicting
claims, and are betrayed into inconsistent utterances.
But it is too much to say that the professional moralist and the plain
man normally regard pure egoism with favor and find it natural. In spite
of our cynical maxims and our inclination to seek for ulterior motives
for apparently altruistic acts, we abhor the thorough-going egoist, and
we are not inclined to look upon the phenomena, let us say, of the family
life, as manifestations of self-seeking.
It is worth while to remark that, even if the approach to the Cyrenaic
ideal were so common as not to seem wholly unnatural, that would not
prove that it ought to be embraced; it is natural for men to err, but
that does not make error our duty.
(3) By the moral conviction of organized humanity, as expressed in
custom, law, and public opinion, egoism stands condemned. Neither in
savage life nor among civilized peoples, neither in the dawn of human
history nor in its latest chapters, do we find these agencies encouraging
every man to live exclusively for himself. Egoistic impulses are
recognized, in that reward and punishment are allotted, but the end urged
upon the attention of the individual is the common good, not his own
particular good.
The social conscience has always demanded of the individual self-
sacrifice, even to the extent of laying down his life, on occasion, for
the public weal. And the enlightened social conscience does not regard a
man as truly moral whose outward conformity to moral laws rests solely
upon a basis of egoistic calculation. The very existence of the family,
the tribe, the state, is a protest against pure egoism. Were all men as
egoistic as Aristippus seems to have professed to be, a stable community
life of any sort would be impossible.
(4) The argument that egoism is rational at least in so far as it
introduces consistency into actions and unifies and harmonizes desires
and impulses deserves little consideration. Any comprehensive end will do
the same, and many comprehensive ends may be very trivial. One may make
it the aim of one's life to remain slender, or may devote all one's
energies to the amelioration of the social position of bald-headed men.
He who counsels deliberate egoism does not recommend it merely on the
score that it leads to consistent action. He does it on the ground that
the end itself appeals to him as one that ought to be selected and will
be selected if a man is wise. That the interest of the individual is in
this sense a matter of obligation, is something to be proved, not
assumed.
104. THE MORALIST'S INTEREST IN EGOISM--It has been worth while to treat
at length of egoism because the doctrine takes on more or less subtle
forms, and its fundamental principle, self-interest, has a significance
for various ethical schools which are not, or are not considered,
egoistic. Men have been vastly puzzled by the moral claims of the
principle of self-interest, both plain men and professional moralists.
That prudence is not the only fundamental virtue, most men would be ready
enough to admit; but is it properly speaking, a virtue at all?
_Ought_ I, for example, to try to make myself happy? Suppose I do
not want to be happy, what is the source of the obligation?
Butler tells me that interest, one's own happiness, is a manifest
obligation; [Footnote: _Dissertation on the Nature of Virtue_, Sec 8;
_Sermons_ III and XI.] Bentham, a writer of a widely different
school, informs me that "the constantly proper end of action on the part
of any individual at the moment of action is his real greatest happiness
from that moment to the end of his life." [Footnote: BENTHAM,
_Memoirs_, Vol. X of Bowring's Edition, Edinburgh, 1843, p. 560.] On
the other hand, Hutcheson teaches me that I am under no obligation to be
good to myself, although I am under obligation to be good to others:
"Actions which flow solely from self-love, and yet evidence no want of
benevolence, having no hurtful effects upon others, seem perfectly
indifferent in a moral sense." [Footnote: _An Enquiry concerning Moral
Good and Evil_, Sec 3, 5.] Which means that intemperance is blameworthy
only so far as it is against the public interest.
May I, should I, on occasion, sacrifice myself? Thoughtful men generally
recognize self-sacrifice, not only as possible, but as actual, and
believe it to be at times a duty. But the moralist gives forth here an
uncertain sound.
Self-interest and benevolence have been left to fight out their quarrel
in a court without a judge to decide upon their conflicting claims;
[Footnote: See Sec 102, the citations from Butler and Clarke.] self-
sacrifice has been enjoined; [Footnote: KANT, see, later, chapter xxix.]
it has been declared impossible; [Footnote: See, above, the position of
Green, Sec 97; cf., below, Sec 126.] it has been denied that it can ever
be a duty; [Footnote: FITE, _An Introductory Study of Ethics_, chapter
vii, Sec 5.] the kind of self-sacrifice in question has been regarded as
significant. [Footnote: SIDGWICK, _The Methods of Ethics_,
Introduction, Sec 4.]
He who has rejected as unworthy of serious consideration the naive egoism
of an Aristippus or an Epicurus is not on that account done with egoism,
by any means. [Footnote: The question of self-sacrifice recurs again in
chapter xxvi, 3.]