I was using this as a jumping off point for a college assignment, thought I would post It here when I was done.
I am counter-arguing with a statement regarding the nature of ethics made by the character ‘Rat’ today’s “Pearls Before Swine” Comic By Stephan Pastis.
The online version of the comic can be found here:http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2013/03/22
Here is the dialog:Rat: “I’ve concluded that the key to living an ethical life is to always pause before I do anything and ask myself that key moral question.”
Goat: “Which is what?”
Rat: “Can I get away with it?”
Goat: “I don’t think that’s moral.” _
Rat: “Well, not if you get caught.”-——————————————————————————————————————-[I’m turning this into an argument against ethical egoism. I used Rat as a silly jumping off point – So don’t consider this too much of a straw man!]
Rat’s statement about ethics very closely resembles the theory of ‘Ethical Egoism’. Ethical Egoism’s central idea is that all persons are hardwired to be selfish, that they physically can not do anything unless they believe that it is in their best interest. Further saying that if all persons are hardwired to be selfish, then you can not declare them to be immoral for acting otherwise. Therefore, the moral action is always the one that is in your best interest – your happiness, well-being, and enjoyment being the ultimate goals. Essentially anything that benefits you becomes moral, so long as you “[Can] get away with it” as Rat said.
I disagree with Rat’s view of ethics for several reasons, first because he told us about it. If Rat claims that the total truth of ethics is that we should all act selfishly, then he is acting against his self interest. Even by telling Goat, he did not “get away with it”; Goat now thinks even more poorly about Rat – Clearly something not in Rat’s best interest. He acted against his moral view already, merely by telling it! Furthermore, if others were to adopt Rat’s view of ethics, they could eventually decide that they could get away with, say, stealing Rat’s wallet. Rat’s view of ethics essentially self-destructs.
I will admit that it is rather difficult to argue against his view that only the self matters. What is there that makes us ‘care’ about what happens to others? Perhaps we truly do not care about what happens to others. Let me explain. Let’s say you disagree with Rat, believing that one can genuinely care about others. Let me then ask you, Why do you care about them? If you answer “Because seeing them well makes me feel good” then you have in fact proved Rat’s point! You care about others because it helps you feel good, a benefit to yourself! OneLastWordSoIHitThe350WordLimitExactly.
I was using this as a jumping off point for a college assignment, thought I would post It here when I was done.
I am counter-arguing with a statement regarding the nature of ethics made by the character ‘Rat’ today’s “Pearls Before Swine” Comic By Stephan Pastis.
The online version of the comic can be found here:http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2013/03/22
Here is the dialog:Rat: “I’ve concluded that the key to living an ethical life is to always pause before I do anything and ask myself that key moral question.”
Goat: “Which is what?”
Rat: “Can I get away with it?”
Goat: “I don’t think that’s moral.” _
Rat: “Well, not if you get caught.”-——————————————————————————————————————-[I’m turning this into an argument against ethical egoism. I used Rat as a silly jumping off point – So don’t consider this too much of a straw man!]
Rat’s statement about ethics very closely resembles the theory of ‘Ethical Egoism’. Ethical Egoism’s central idea is that all persons are hardwired to be selfish, that they physically can not do anything unless they believe that it is in their best interest. Further saying that if all persons are hardwired to be selfish, then you can not declare them to be immoral for acting otherwise. Therefore, the moral action is always the one that is in your best interest – your happiness, well-being, and enjoyment being the ultimate goals. Essentially anything that benefits you becomes moral, so long as you “[Can] get away with it” as Rat said.
I disagree with Rat’s view of ethics for several reasons, first because he told us about it. If Rat claims that the total truth of ethics is that we should all act selfishly, then he is acting against his self interest. Even by telling Goat, he did not “get away with it”; Goat now thinks even more poorly about Rat – Clearly something not in Rat’s best interest. He acted against his moral view already, merely by telling it! Furthermore, if others were to adopt Rat’s view of ethics, they could eventually decide that they could get away with, say, stealing Rat’s wallet. Rat’s view of ethics essentially self-destructs.
I will admit that it is rather difficult to argue against his view that only the self matters. What is there that makes us ‘care’ about what happens to others? Perhaps we truly do not care about what happens to others. Let me explain. Let’s say you disagree with Rat, believing that one can genuinely care about others. Let me then ask you, Why do you care about them? If you answer “Because seeing them well makes me feel good” then you have in fact proved Rat’s point! You care about others because it helps you feel good, a benefit to yourself! OneLastWordSoIHitThe350WordLimitExactly.