Monday, January 10, 2022

On Medium: Do Economists Presume Everyone’s Selfish?

Read on about self-interest, economic rationality, and the questionable merit of capitalism. Does altruism conflict with the logic of the invisible hand argument?  

3 comments:

  1. Do you have any thoughts on egoism?

    Also, I hope my comment on your previous post went through.
    May you have a brilliant day!

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    Replies
    1. I'm having a conversation about egoism with a Medium reader in the comments on that article. You can find the initial comment and my response (which gets into psychological egoism) here:

      https://meh90293.medium.com/this-is-an-interesting-read-8bc82d276f64

      https://benjamincain8.medium.com/thanks-very-much-for-your-thought-provoking-expert-analysis-223d3f94c43e

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    2. Thank you for sharing this very interesting discussion. I noticed that your interlocutor became strangely agitated as time went on. Reminds of this discussion I just had:

      https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussion/12408/antinatalism-masochism

      The person started off relatively calm, but then ended with accusing me of "talking out of my hat" after having failed to (in my view) defend their claim that suffering is real but all pleasant experiences are "illusions". Henceforth, I've started to see people who appear superficially cool in a more suspicious light.

      Concerning egoism, I think that it is an interesting position. If one believes in the sort of desire framework that efilists have, I think one could say that all actions are really taken for the sake of satisfaction (or removing harm, as they would call it). Although they still claim that their position is altruistic, I don't think that this is possible once one accepts this point of view. I suppose that certain acts wherein one acts without thinking about their greater well-being or other alternatives of gaining satisfaction could be considered selfless in some sense.

      Anyway, thanks for this insightful reply! I hope you have an fantastic day!

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