Concept
Enlightened self-interest
Overview
Enlightened self-interest is a philosophy in ethics which states that persons who act to further the interests of others (or the interests of the group or groups to which they belong) ultimately serve their own self-interest.
It has often been simply expressed by the belief that an individual, group, or even a commercial entity will "do well by doing good".
The term enlightened self-interest has been criticized as a mere ideological or semantic device of neoclassical economic theory to justify this type of behavior. It has been considered at best a variant of self-interest that is unsuitable for the establishment of personal and public relations because - like the definition of self-interest in the standard rational-choice model - it fails to characterise human behaviour ethically, psychologically, and cognitively.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
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These few were the Evil Ones and they were conquered. Then great fires raged over the land. And in these fires the Evil Ones and all the things made by the Evil Ones were burned. And the fire which is called the Dawn of the Great Rebirth, was the Script Fire where all the scripts of the Evil Ones were burned, and with them all the words of the Evil Ones. Great mountains of flame stood in the squares of the Cities…
Ayn Rand, Anthem
States what Enlightened self-interest is; the author is tied to Enlightened self-interest in the knowledge graph.
In our economic experience, no more than elsewhere, is satisfaction an ultimate and self-explanatory term. Satisfaction carries with it always a reference to the level of power and interest that makes it possible and on which it must be measured. To seek satisfaction for its own sake or to hinge one's interest in science or art upon their ability to serve the palpable needs of the present moment--these, together…
John Dewey, Creative Intelligence
States what Enlightened self-interest is.
There is also another characteristic of conduct having real moral worth, which is entirely internal and therefore less obvious. I allude to the fact that it leaves behind a certain self-satisfaction which is called the approval of conscience: just as, on the other hand, injustice and unkindness, and still more malice and cruelty, involve a secret self-condemnation. Lastly, there is an external, secondary, and…
Arthur Schopenhauer, The Basis of Morality
States what Enlightened self-interest is.
Philosophers who discussed Enlightened self-interest
Related ideas
- Profit (economics)
- Objectivism
- Age of Enlightenment
- Altruism
- Ayn Rand
- Business
- Economic materialism
- Ethics
- Self-interest
- By-product
Place in the tradition
Part of Anarchism.
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