Sneak Preview of The Virtuous Egoist

Heh. This will be my second, uncharacteristically short post in one day. The apocalypse is at hand.

Via Passing Thoughts, I have learned that an excerpt of Tara Smith's upcoming scholarly book, Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics: The Virtuous Egoist, is available on line. He recommends the PDF version since it has the footnotes. Here's an excerpt of the excerpt:

Much recent discussion in ethics has danced around the edges of egoism, as renewed attention to virtue ethics, eudaimonia, and perfectionism naturally raise questions about the role of self-interest in a good life. Although the ancient Greek conception of ethics that is currently enjoying a revival does not fit stereotypes of egoism, it certainly does not advocate altruism. As Rosalind Hursthouse acknowledges, much virtue ethics portrays morality as a form of enlightened self-interest. Although authors increasingly have defended aspects of egoism (see, for instance, David Schmidtz, Jean Hampton, Neera Badhwar), the overwhelming majority of ethicists remains averse not only to endorsing egoism but even to seriously considering it. Those who do speak on its behalf usually urge that we incorporate discrete elements of egoism, such as self-respect, alongside altruistic obligations. Rather than urge that we replace altruism with egoism, in other words, they seek to reconcile select self-beneficial qualities with the altruism that we all already "know" morality demands. This latter assumption remains ubiquitous. Christine Korsgaard's claim that "...moral conduct by definition is not motivated by self-interest" is typical.

Consequently, the questions raised by these recent developments in moral philosophy have not been adequately pursued. Is eudaimonia a selfish end? What does selfishness actually mean? What sorts of actions does it demand? What are the implications of pursuing eudaimonia for a person's relationships with others? Yet another nascent movement in ethics, perhaps spawned by virtue ethics, also points to a need to confront egoism more squarely: the advocacy of naturalism as the foundation of morality. In the past few years, Philippa Foot, Rosalind Hursthouse, and Berys Gaut have all defended the idea that the bedrock source of proper moral norms rests in needs dictated by human nature. A little earlier, James Wallace's Virtues and Vices (1978) advocated the same basic view. [footnote numbers omitted]

Mike says, "I'm looking forward to reading the entire book, but $80!?" I say, "Gulp!"

-- CAV