Selfishness: An Analysis

It is an everyday happening that we call some people “selfish” and others “unselfish.” But what are we saying when using these words? Let’s take a closer look and try to unravel their meaning. In my work in ethics these past forty years I have found four meanings of “self-behavior” that I believe clarifies these differences. Consider:

SELFISH BEHAVIOR – Selfish behavior puts ME first and doesn’t consider your feelings, points of view, or interest at all unless what you are doing magnifies MY INTERESTS. In the words of Kant, a selfish person treats others as a MEAN to his or her own personal goals and purposes. In philosophy this is called “egoism” and most believe it an unsound behavior upon which to erect a moral theory; as a matter of fact, most deem it impossible.

SELF-CENTERED BEHAVIOR – This is a tricky one. A person who is self-centered could possibly be selfish as well; but not necessarily. To separate the selfish from the self-centered I offer this definition: “A self-centered person will consider his or her own needs first and your (or the other person’s) needs and wishes second.” I think this is what Jesus had in mind when he noted that we are to love others as we love ourselves. He knew that most of us are self-centered so he asked us to inspect our behavior and transfer INTEREST FOR THE SELF TO OTHERS. In philosophy this is called “rational ethical egoism” and one of its main proponents was Adam Smith.

UNSELFISH BEHAVIOR – The unselfish person puts others first and themselves second. This is an admiral quality, but unrealistic. Many believe this the heart and soul of ethical behavior; perhaps it is, but who among us are unselfish all the time? In philosophy unselfishness is recommended – that, as Kant said, we should treat others not as means to our selfish goals, but as individuals with goals, lifestyles, purposes, etc. that should be respected and honored. Noting that we should not promote dishonesty, killing, stealing, etc., Kant amended this idea by saying that we should not do anything to others that we are not willing recommend that all can and should do. In philosophy this is called the principle of “universalizability.”

SELFLESS BEHAVIOR – This is a rare phenomena which puts others first and doesn’t consider one’s “self” at all. We find a soldier doing this in time or war or a fireman or policeman doing this as well. Selflessness is a commendable behavior and people ought to be praised for being so selfless, but it’s so rare that we can’t consider it a universal behavior upon which to build a moral theory.

My personal candidates for behaviors that are moral are numbers 2 and 3. Somewhere in these behaviors we find the substance of morality that can be universally recommended.