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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Solon who wrote (61395)	10/7/2002 6:06:32 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 82486

Why are any of these things under consideration for your self interest?... Why do you bring them up knowing they are anomalies?? To examine the issues around the idea of a morality based on self interest without some of the complicating factors that real world situations would add. These things involve self interest only in unsocialized or psychotic individuals. I think most thieves or embezzlers are not psychotic but I think at least some are acting in their own self interest, and would be even more clearly acting in their self interest if they knew they could get away with it as completely as my example assumed. Karen's idea of self interest was that we should have principles which would generally support our long term enlightened self interest. Even when in particular cases violating the principles might be in our self interest. By that standard both of my hypothetical situations would be cases of someone acting against their self interest. I'm not sure if Rand, or if you have the same definition. If we pretend these people do not operate under self interest...are we then entitled to call them EVIL...or is there another way of approaching it... I would call their actions evil. Murder and theft are evil actions. But I do think that at least some times they can be in a person's self interest. In my view of ethics the moral person will refrain from murder or theft even when these criminal actions would benefit him. Tim