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57-406: "What Yang Zhu was for was self. If by plucking one hair he might benefit the whole world, he would not do it." Yangism has been described as a form of psychological and ethical egoism . The Yangist philosophers believed in the importance of maintaining self-interest through "keeping one's nature intact, protecting one's uniqueness, and not letting the body be tied by other things." Disagreeing with

114-503: A "precursor" to later Taoist beliefs. Ethical egoism In ethical philosophy , ethical egoism is the normative position that moral agents ought to act in their own self-interest . It differs from psychological egoism , which claims that people can only act in their self-interest. Ethical egoism also differs from rational egoism , which holds that it is rational to act in one's self-interest. Ethical egoism holds, therefore, that actions whose consequences will benefit

171-453: A condition of his idealist philosophy concerned with universal truth. In Plato's Republic , Socrates opposes the sophist Thrasymachus's relativistic account of justice, and argues that justice is mathematical in its conceptual structure, and that ethics was therefore a precise and objective enterprise with impartial standards for truth and correctness, like geometry. The rigorous mathematical treatment Plato gave to moral concepts set

228-482: A criticism of subjectivism is that it is difficult to distinguish between knowledge, opinions, and subjective knowledge. Platonic idealism is a form of metaphysical objectivism, holding that the ideas exist independently from the individual. Berkeley's empirical idealism, on the other hand, holds that things only exist as they are perceived . Both approaches boast an attempt at objectivity. Plato's definition of objectivity can be found in his epistemology , which

285-458: A fixed amount of raw materials (e.g. the West pre-1776 versus post-1776, East versus West Germany, Hong Kong versus mainland China, North versus South Korea, etc.). It is not clear how to apply a private ownership model to many examples of "commons", however. Examples include large fisheries, the atmosphere and the ocean. Some perhaps decisive problems with ethical egoism have been pointed out. One

342-534: A harmony between an individual's fidelity to their own self-actualization, or "personal destiny", and the achievement of society's well-being. Subjectivity The distinction between subjectivity and objectivity is a basic idea of philosophy , particularly epistemology and metaphysics . Various understandings of this distinction have evolved through the work of countless philosophers over centuries. One basic distinction is: Both ideas have been given various and ambiguous definitions by differing sources as

399-614: A plurality of indescribable forms. Objectivity requires a definition of truth formed by propositions with truth value . An attempt of forming an objective construct incorporates ontological commitments to the reality of objects. The importance of perception in evaluating and understanding objective reality is debated in the observer effect of quantum mechanics. Direct or naïve realists rely on perception as key in observing objective reality, while instrumentalists hold that observations are useful in predicting objective reality. The concepts that encompass these ideas are important in

456-607: A status not granted to others). But it also holds that one is not obligated to sacrifice one's own interests (as altruism does) to help others' interests, so long as one's own interests (i.e., one's own desires or well-being ) are substantially equivalent to the others' interests and well-being, but they have the choice to do so. Egoism, utilitarianism, and altruism are all forms of consequentialism , but egoism and altruism contrast with utilitarianism, in that egoism and altruism are both agent-focused forms of consequentialism (i.e., subject-focused or subjective ). However, utilitarianism

513-617: Is mutually beneficial. Rand's student, Leonard Peikoff has argued that the identification of one's interests itself is impossible absent the use of principles, and that self-interest cannot be consistently pursued absent a consistent adherence to certain ethical principles. Recently, Rand's position has also been defended by such writers as Tara Smith , Tibor Machan , Allan Gotthelf , David Kelley , Douglas Rasmussen , Nathaniel Branden , Harry Binswanger , Andrew Bernstein , and Craig Biddle . Philosopher David L. Norton identified himself as an "ethical individualist", and, like Rand, saw

570-522: Is a reference to the deep embeddedness of subjectivity in the socially intertwined systems of power and meaning. "Politicality", writes Sadeq Rahimi in Meaning, Madness and Political Subjectivity , "is not an added aspect of the subject, but indeed the mode of being of the subject, that is, precisely what the subject is ." Scientific objectivity is practicing science while intentionally reducing partiality , biases, or external influences. Moral objectivity

627-450: Is an inherently social mode that comes about through innumerable interactions within society. As much as subjectivity is a process of individuation , it is equally a process of socialization, the individual never being isolated in a self-contained environment, but endlessly engaging in interaction with the surrounding world. Culture is a living totality of the subjectivity of any given society constantly undergoing transformation. Subjectivity

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684-553: Is based on mathematics , and his metaphysics , where knowledge of the ontological status of objects and ideas is resistant to change. In Western philosophy, the idea of subjectivity is thought to have its roots in the works of the European Enlightenment thinkers Descartes and Kant though it could also stem as far back as the Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle 's work relating to the soul. The idea of subjectivity

741-513: Is both shaped by it and shapes it in turn, but also by other things like the economy, political institutions, communities, as well as the natural world. Though the boundaries of societies and their cultures are indefinable and arbitrary, the subjectivity inherent in each one is palatable and can be recognized as distinct from others. Subjectivity is in part a particular experience or organization of reality , which includes how one views and interacts with humanity, objects, consciousness, and nature, so

798-491: Is chosen is efficacious in satisfying the self-interest of the agent. Nor does ethical egoism necessarily entail that, in pursuing self-interest, one ought always to do what one wants to do; e.g., in the long term, the fulfillment of short-term desires may prove detrimental to the self . Fleeting pleasure, then, takes a back seat to protracted eudaimonia . In the words of James Rachels , "Ethical egoism ... endorses selfishness, but it doesn't endorse foolishness." Ethical egoism

855-428: Is exemplified by Descartes deductions that move from reliance on subjectivity to somewhat of a reliance on God for objectivity. Foucault and Derrida denied the idea of subjectivity in favor of their ideas of constructs in order to account for differences in human thought. Instead of focusing on the idea of consciousness and self-consciousness shaping the way humans perceive the world, these thinkers would argue that it

912-602: Is held to be agent-neutral (i.e., objective and impartial ): it does not treat the subject's (i.e., the self's, i.e., the moral "agent's") own interests as being more or less important than the interests, desires, or well-being of others. Ethical egoism does not, however, require moral agents to harm the interests and well-being of others when making moral deliberation; e.g., what is in an agent's self-interest may be incidentally detrimental, beneficial, or neutral in its effect on others. Individualism allows for others' interest and well-being to be disregarded or not, as long as what

969-480: Is in the context of religion . Religious beliefs can vary quite extremely from person to person, but people often think that whatever they believe is the truth. Subjectivity as seen by Descartes and Sartre was a matter of what was dependent on consciousness, so, because religious beliefs require the presence of a consciousness that can believe, they must be subjective. This is in contrast to what has been proven by pure logic or hard sciences , which does not depend on

1026-539: Is instead the world that shapes humans, so they would see religion less as a belief and more as a cultural construction. Others like Husserl and Sartre followed the phenomenological approach. This approach focused on the distinct separation of the human mind and the physical world, where the mind is subjective because it can take liberties like imagination and self-awareness where religion might be examined regardless of any kind of subjectivity. The philosophical conversation around subjectivity remains one that struggles with

1083-456: Is more or less truth-bearing and how historians can stitch together versions of it to best explain what " actually happened. " The anthropologist Michel-Rolph Trouillot developed the concepts of historicity 1 and 2 to explain the difference between the materiality of socio - historical processes (H1) and the narratives that are told about the materiality of socio-historical processes (H2). This distinction hints that H1 would be understood as

1140-444: Is not, in fact, in their rational self-interest to take things to such extremes. However, the (unregulated) tragedy of the commons and the (one off) prisoner's dilemma are cases in which, on the one hand, it is rational for an individual to seek to take as much as possible even though that makes things worse for everybody, and on the other hand, those cases are not self-refuting since that behaviour remains rational even though it

1197-520: Is often seen as a peripheral to other philosophical concepts, namely skepticism , individuals and individuality, and existentialism . The questions surrounding subjectivity have to do with whether or not people can escape the subjectivity of their own human existence and whether or not there is an obligation to try to do so. Important thinkers who focused on this area of study include Descartes, Locke , Kant, Hegel , Kierkegaard , Husserl , Foucault , Derrida , Nagel , and Sartre . Subjectivity

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1254-447: Is often used as the philosophical basis for support of right-libertarianism and individualist anarchism . These are political positions based partly on a belief that individuals should not coercively prevent others from exercising freedom of action. Ethical egoism can be broadly divided into three categories: individual, personal, and universal. An individual ethical egoist would hold that all people should do whatever benefits "my" (

1311-578: Is that an ethical egoist would not want ethical egoism to be universalized: as it would be in the egoist's best self-interest if others acted altruistically towards them, they wouldn't want them to act egoistically; however, that is what they consider to be morally binding. Their moral principles would demand of others not to follow them, which can be considered self-defeating and leads to the question: "How can ethical egoism be considered morally binding if its advocates do not want it to be universally applied?" Another objection (e.g. by James Rachels) states that

1368-851: Is that we have duties to ourselves as well as to other people (e.g. friends) and to the polis as a whole. The same is true for Thomas Aquinas , Christian Wolff and Immanuel Kant , who claim that there are duties to ourselves as Aristotle did, although it has been argued that, for Aristotle, the duty to one's self is primary. Ayn Rand argued that there is a positive harmony of interests among free, rational humans, such that no moral agent can rationally coerce another person consistently with their own long-term self-interest. Rand argued that other people are an enormous value to an individual's well-being (through education, trade and affection), but also that this value could be fully realized only under conditions of political and economic freedom. According to Rand, voluntary trade alone can assure that human interaction

1425-637: Is ultimately self-defeating, i.e. self-defeating does not imply self-refuting. Egoists might respond that a tragedy of the commons, however, assumes some degree of public land. That is, a commons forbidding homesteading requires regulation. Thus, an argument against the tragedy of the commons, in this belief system, is fundamentally an argument for private property rights and the system that recognizes both property rights and rational self-interest—capitalism. More generally, egoists might say that an increasing respect for individual rights uniquely allows for increasing wealth creation and increasing usable resources despite

1482-599: The Stoics were exponents of virtue ethics , and "did not accept the formal principle that whatever the good is, we should seek only our own good, or prefer it to the good of others." However, the beliefs of the Cyrenaics have been referred to as a "form of egoistic hedonism", and while some refer to Epicurus ' hedonism as a form of virtue ethics , others argue his ethics are more properly described as ethical egoism. Philosopher James Rachels , in an essay that takes as its title

1539-408: The factual reality that elapses and is captured with the concept of " objective truth ", and that H2 is the collection of subjectivities that humanity has stitched together to grasp the past. Debates about positivism , relativism , and postmodernism are relevant to evaluating these concepts' importance and the distinction between them. In his book "Silencing the past", Trouillot wrote about

1596-555: The philosophy of science . Philosophies of mind explore whether objectivity relies on perceptual constancy . History as a discipline has wrestled with notions of objectivity from its very beginning. While its object of study is commonly thought to be the past , the only thing historians have to work with are different versions of stories based on individual perceptions of reality and memory . Several history streams developed to devise ways to solve this dilemma: Historians like Leopold von Ranke (19th century) have advocated for

1653-490: The xing of other people, even if it means opposing the emperor. In this sense, Yangism is a "direct attack" on Confucianism, by implying that the power of the emperor, defended in Confucianism, is baseless and destructive, and that state intervention is morally flawed. The Confucian philosopher Mencius depicts Yangism as the direct opposite of Mohism , while Mohism promotes the idea of universal love and impartial caring,

1710-405: The 'for-itself' (i.e., an objective and subjective human being). The innermost core of subjectivity resides in a unique act of what Fichte called " self-positing ", where each subject is a point of absolute autonomy , which means that it cannot be reduced to a moment in the network of causes and effects. One way that subjectivity has been conceptualized by philosophers such as Kierkegaard

1767-564: The Confucian virtues of li (propriety), ren (humaneness), and yi (righteousness) and the Legalist virtue of fa (law), the Yangists saw wei wo ( 為我 ), or "[everything] for myself," as the only virtue necessary for self-cultivation. Individual pleasure is considered desirable, like in hedonism , but not at the expense of the health of individual. The Yangists saw individual well-being as

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1824-501: The Yangists acted only "for themselves," rejecting the altruism of Mohism. Mencius additionally criticized the Yangists as selfish, ignoring the duty of serving the public and caring only for personal concerns. Mencius saw Confucianism as the " Middle Way " between Mohism and Yangism. Mencius incorporated the Yangist concept of xing into his own philosophy. Some sinologists have argued that Yangism influenced Taoism , and can be seen as

1881-523: The best of each individual only if they all voluntarily forgo some of their aims—that is, one's self-interest is often best pursued by allowing others to pursue their self-interest as well so that liberty is equal among individuals. Sacrificing one's short-term self-interest to maximize one's long-term self-interest is one form of " rational self-interest " which is the idea behind most philosophers' advocacy of ethical egoism. Egoists have also argued that one's actual interests are not immediately obvious, and that

1938-563: The common good should be enjoyed by all. However, most notable anarchists in history have been less radical, retaining altruism and a sense of the importance of the individual that is appreciable but does not go as far as egoism. Recent trends to greater appreciation of egoism within anarchism tend to come from less classical directions such as post-left anarchy or Situationism (e.g. Raoul Vaneigem ). Egoism has also been referenced by anarcho-capitalists , such as Murray Rothbard . Philosopher Max Stirner , in his book The Ego and Its Own ,

1995-446: The difference between different cultures brings about an alternate experience of existence that forms life in a different manner. A common effect on an individual of this disjunction between subjectivities is culture shock , where the subjectivity of the other culture is considered alien and possibly incomprehensible or even hostile. Political subjectivity is an emerging concept in social sciences and humanities. Political subjectivity

2052-730: The distinction ethical egoism makes between "yourself" and "the rest" – demanding to view the interests of "yourself" as more important – is arbitrary, as no justification for it can be offered; considering that the merits and desires of "the rest" are comparable to those of "yourself" while lacking a justifiable distinction, Rachels concludes that "the rest" should be given the same moral consideration as "yourself". The term ethical egoism has been applied retroactively to philosophers such as Bernard de Mandeville and to many other materialists of his generation, although none of them declared themselves to be egoists. Note that materialism does not necessarily imply egoism, as indicated by Karl Marx , and

2109-413: The distinction is often a given but not the specific focal point of philosophical discourse. The two words are usually regarded as opposites , though complications regarding the two have been explored in philosophy: for example, the view of particular thinkers that objectivity is an illusion and does not exist at all, or that a spectrum joins subjectivity and objectivity with a gray area in-between, or that

2166-403: The doer are ethical. Ethical egoism contrasts with ethical altruism , which holds that moral agents have an obligation to help others. Egoism and altruism both contrast with ethical utilitarianism , which holds that a moral agent should treat one's self (also known as the subject ) with no higher regard than one has for others (as egoism does, by elevating self-interests and "the self" to

2223-587: The epistemological question of what is real, what is made up, and what it would mean to be separated completely from subjectivity. In opposition to philosopher René Descartes ' method of personal deduction , natural philosopher Isaac Newton applied the relatively objective scientific method to look for evidence before forming a hypothesis. Partially in response to Kant 's rationalism , logician Gottlob Frege applied objectivity to his epistemological and metaphysical philosophies. If reality exists independently of consciousness , then it would logically include

2280-443: The individual's ) self-interest; a personal ethical egoist would hold that they should act in their self-interest, but would make no claims about what anyone else ought to do; a universal ethical egoist would argue that everyone should act in ways that are in their self-interest. Ethical egoism was introduced by the philosopher Henry Sidgwick in his book The Methods of Ethics , written in 1874. Sidgwick compared egoism to

2337-427: The making of history (the retrospective construction of what The Past is). Because history ( official , public , familial , personal) informs current perceptions and how we make sense of the present , whose voice gets to be included in it –and how– has direct consequences in material socio-historical processes. Thinking of current historical narratives as impartial depictions of the totality of events unfolded in

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2394-449: The many other materialists who espoused forms of collectivism . It has been argued that ethical egoism can lend itself to individualist anarchism such as that of Benjamin Tucker , or the combined anarcho-communism and egoism of Emma Goldman , both of whom were proponents of many egoist ideas put forward by Max Stirner . In this context, egoism is another way of describing the sense that

2451-559: The motive of collective efforts by society to reduce the disproportionate gains of successful individuals through moral or legal constraints, with altruism being primary among these. In addition, Nietzsche (in Beyond Good and Evil ) and Alasdair MacIntyre (in After Virtue ) have pointed out that the ancient Greeks did not associate morality with altruism in the way that post-Christian Western civilization has done. Aristotle 's view

2508-434: The past were shaped–, and putting it on the voices of ordinary people. Postcolonial streams of history challenge the colonial-postcolonial dichotomy and critique Eurocentric academia practices, such as the demand for historians from colonized regions to anchor their local narratives to events happening in the territories of their colonizers to earn credibility . All the streams explained above try to uncover whose voice

2565-441: The past by labeling them as "objective" risks sealing historical understanding. Acknowledging that history is never objective and always incomplete has a meaningful opportunity to support social justice efforts. Under said notion, voices that have been silenced are placed on an equal footing to the grand and popular narratives of the world, appreciated for their unique insight of reality through their subjective lens. Subjectivity

2622-404: The perception of people, and is therefore considered objective. Subjectivity is what relies on personal perception regardless of what is proven or objective. Many philosophical arguments within this area of study have to do with moving from subjective thoughts to objective thoughts with many different methods employed to get from one to the other along with a variety of conclusions reached. This

2679-495: The philosophy of utilitarianism , writing that whereas utilitarianism sought to maximize overall pleasure, egoism focused only on maximizing individual pleasure. Philosophers before Sidgwick have also retroactively been identified as ethical egoists. One ancient example is the philosophy of Yang Zhu (4th century BC), Yangism , who views wei wo , or "everything for myself", as the only virtue necessary for self-cultivation. Ancient Greek philosophers like Plato , Aristotle and

2736-550: The power dynamics at play in history-making, outlining four possible moments in which historical silences can be created: (1) making of sources (who gets to know how to write, or to have possessions that are later examined as historical evidence ), (2) making of archives (what documents are deemed important to save and which are not, how to classify materials, and how to order them within physical or digital archives), (3) making of narratives (which accounts of history are consulted, which voices are given credibility ), and (4)

2793-449: The prime purpose of life, and considered anything that hindered that well-being immoral and unnecessary. The main focus of the Yangists was on the concept of xing , or human nature, a term later incorporated by Mencius into Confucianism . The xing , according to sinologist A. C. Graham , is a person's "proper course of development" in life. Individuals can only rationally care for their own xing , and should not naively have to support

2850-416: The problem of other minds is best viewed through the concept of intersubjectivity , developing since the 20th century. The distinction between subjectivity and objectivity is often related to discussions of consciousness , agency , personhood , philosophy of mind , philosophy of language , reality , truth , and communication (for example in narrative communication and journalism ). The root of

2907-480: The pursuit of self-interest involves more than merely the acquisition of some good, but the maximizing of one's chances of survival and/or happiness. Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche suggested that egoistic or "life-affirming" behavior stimulates jealousy or " ressentiment " in others, and that this is the psychological motive for the altruism in Christianity . Sociologist Helmut Schoeck similarly considered envy

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2964-415: The theory's name, outlines the three arguments most commonly touted in its favor: It has been argued that extreme ethical egoism is self-defeating. Faced with a situation of limited resources, egoists would consume as much of the resource as they could, making the overall situation worse for everybody. Egoists may respond that if the situation becomes worse for everybody, that would include the egoist, so it

3021-546: The tone for the western tradition of moral objectivism that came after him. His contrasting between objectivity and opinion became the basis for philosophies intent on resolving the questions of reality , truth , and existence . He saw opinions as belonging to the shifting sphere of sensibilities , as opposed to a fixed, eternal and knowable incorporeality . Where Plato distinguished between how we know things and their ontological status, subjectivism such as George Berkeley 's depends on perception . In Platonic terms,

3078-541: The use of extensive evidence –especially archived physical paper documents– to recover the bygone past, claiming that, as opposed to people's memories, objects remain stable in what they say about the era they witnessed, and therefore represent a better insight into objective reality . In the 20th century, the Annales School emphasized the importance of shifting focus away from the perspectives of influential men –usually politicians around whose actions narratives of

3135-499: The words subjectivity and objectivity are subject and object , philosophical terms that mean, respectively, an observer and a thing being observed. The word subjectivity comes from subject in a philosophical sense, meaning an individual who possesses unique conscious experiences, such as perspectives, feelings, beliefs, and desires, or who (consciously) acts upon or wields power over some other entity (an object ). Aristotle's teacher Plato considered geometry to be

3192-416: Was rejected by Foucault and Derrida in favor of constructionism , but Sartre embraced and continued Descartes' work in the subject by emphasizing subjectivity in phenomenology . Sartre believed that, even within the material force of human society, the ego was an essentially transcendent being—posited, for instance, in his opus Being and Nothingness through his arguments about the 'being-for-others' and

3249-478: Was the first philosopher to call himself an egoist, though his writing makes clear that he desired not a new idea of morality (ethical egoism), but rather a rejection of morality ( amoralism ), as a nonexistent and limiting "spook"; for this, Stirner has been described as the first individualist anarchist . Other philosophers, such as Thomas Hobbes and David Gauthier , have argued that the conflicts which arise when people each pursue their own ends can be resolved for

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