So no - behaving rationally doesn't just mean acting in your own self-interest. He's acting in my interest, not in his own interest - at least not exclusively. Why does he do that? Because he cares about my well-being and wants to cure me. For example: when I go to my doctor and he sees I have an illness that's treatable with certain medicine, he gives me the drug. But surely there's more to rationality than calculations of naked self-interest. That question presupposes that the only thing we ever have reason to do is pursue our own self-interest. So: does the bare fact that something is objectively morally right or morally wrong, automatically give you a reason to do it or not do it? I'm even willing to stipulate that that's an objective and inescapable fact. But for the sake of our argument, I'm willing to stipulate that it would be morally wrong to take the money in the situation we just imagined. There's actually a lot to be said in favor of moral skepticism. But denying that there's any objective right and wrong seems pretty desperate. Sure, that would make us free to do whatever we want, without having to worry about morality. If you take the cash, you're a moral skeptic, someone who believes there are no facts of the matter about right and wrong. Where's the rationality in not taking the money? And ther's an iron-clad guarantee that if you take it, no one will ever know. Rationally speaking, morality should always trump self-interest.īut imagine there's an open, unguarded bank vault, with lots and lots of cash, staring you in the face. But rationally speaking, that's not how it should be. For people like that, when morality and self-interest come into head-to-head conflict, morality loses out. Many people are psychologically inclined to elevate their own self-interest above all else - including morality. Couldn't there be situations in which a person fully weighs the pros and cons, and sincerely and rationally decides that the best thing for him to do, all things considered, is precisely what morality forbids? In other words, what do we make of situations in which morality tells you to do one thing, and self-interest tells you to do something different? That implies that immoral behavior is irrational or insincere or hypocritical or something. Everybody knows that - at least in their heart of hearts. But we also have to be careful not confuse 'ought' and 'is'. Well, judging by people's behavior, not necessarily. A person should always do good things and never do bad things. This week we're asking the question: Why Be Moral? But what kind of question is that? Morality is a good thing.
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