BGCSE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

1. ‘The achievement of his own happiness is man’s
highest moral purpose.’
Ayn Rand –TheVirtue of Selfishness

2.  Watch video – Starvation
in Ethiopia (6mins)
 https://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=9IKqAtJiZUY
 15,000 children every day
die of malnutrition
 5,500,000 every year

3.  Materialism rules supreme
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=oGab38pKscw

4.  We could forego luxury spending and give
money to famine relief to help assist starving
children
 The fact that we don’t implies our luxuries are
more important than feeding/keeping alive
the hungry
 Why do we behave like this? – Food for
thought!

5.  What is our duty?
 What should we do?
 Morality requires that we balance our own
interests against the interests of others
 Eg $100 dollars to go and watch a movie or
donate that money to relieve famine/provide
medicine and so help dying children
 Common sense – leads to famine relief

6.  The previous example leads to an
assumption of moral duties
 ‘we have ‘natural’ duties to others simply
because they are people who could be
helped or harmed by our actions’
 However, not everyone agrees with this

7.  The idea that each person ought to pursue
his/her own self-interest exclusively
 It argues we have no duty except to do what
is best for ourselves
 There is only one ultimate principle of
conduct – the principle of self-interest
 All duties and obligations are subject to self-
interest

8.  Ethical Egoism does not say that
you should avoid actions that
help others
 It could be that by helping others
you help yourself
 ‘You scratch my back and I’ll
scratch yours’
 Or your interests coincide with
the interests of others and by
helping yourself you
inadvertently help others
 The important point is that in
such cases the benefit to others is
not what makes the action right

9.  It is also important to realise it
doesn’t endorse the idea that we
ought always to do what we want
to
 Short term pleasures may be
harmful in the long run
 It doesn’t lead to a debauched
hedonistic lifestyle
 It says that a person really ought to
do what really is in his/her own best
advantage over the long run – It
endorses selfishness not
foolishness

10. 1. a) Each of us is intimately familiar with our own
individual needs and wants but we cannot know
the desires and needs of other people
b) The policy of looking out for others is an offensive
intrusion into other people’s privacy
c) Making other people the object of one’s ‘charity’ is
degrading to them it robs them of their dignity
and self-respect
Think about these claims. Do you agree?

11.  The previous arguments amount to the idea
that a policy of ‘looking out for others’ is self
defeating

12. 2. The second argument was put forward
by Ayn Rand
 She argues the ethics of altruism
(selflessness and concern for others) is
a totally destructive idea both in terms
of society and individuals taken in by it
 Altruism leads to a denial of the value
of the individual
‘ If a man accepts the ethics of altruism…
his first concern is not how to live his
life but how to sacrifice it’
 Discuss this quote with a friend. Do
you agree with this stance?

13.  Rand is arguing along these lines
 A person has only one life to live. If we value the
individual – that is, if the individual has moral
worth – then we must agree that this life is of
supreme importance
 If your willing to sacrifice for the good of others
(altruism) you are not truly valuing the human
individual
 Therefore Ethical Egoism is the philosophy that
ought to be accepted

14.  1. Rachels argues that …Ethical Egoism cannot
provide solutions for conflicts of interest
 We need moral rules because our interests some
times come into conflict with our morals.

15. 2. Ethical Egoism advocates that each of us divides the
world into two categories of people – ourselves and
the rest – and we regard the interests of the first
group as more important than the interests of the
second group
 But what is the difference between myself and others
that justifies placing myself in this special category
 Am I more intelligent?
 Do I enjoy my life more?
 Are my achievements greater?
 What makes me so special?
 Failing an answer Ethical Egoism is an arbitrary
doctrine

16.  Any moral doctrine that assigns greater importance to
interests of one group than to those of another is
unacceptably arbitrary unless there is some difference
between the members of the groups that justifies treating
them differently
 Therefore
 Ethical Egoism would have each person assign greater
importance to his or her own interests than to the
interests of others. But there is no general difference
between oneself and others, to which each person can
appeal, that justifies this difference in treatment
 Therefore
 Ethical Egoism is unacceptably arbitrary (solely based on
one’s decision) and not a valid theory

17.  We should care about the interests of
others for the same reason we care about
our own interests – because their needs
and desires are the same as our own
 Consider again – the starving people we
could help to feed by giving up some of our
luxuries
 Why should we care about them?
 Because there is no difference between us
and them – we would go to any lengths to
feed ourselves if we were starving
 Their needs are the same as ours
 They are no less deserving than us – If our
needs should be met then so should theirs
 This realization that we are equal to one
another is the deepest reason why our
morality must include some recognition
of the needs of others and why Ethical
Egoism fails as a moral theory

18.  Essay
Is it unreasonable to ask people to sacrifice
their own pleasures/luxuries for those in
poverty in other areas of the world?