23059
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Self-interest is not rational, if the self is just a succession of memories and behaviour [Sidgwick, by Gray]
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Full Idea:
Sidgwick said self-interest is not self-evidently rational. Unless we invoke a religious idea of the soul, human personality is no more than a succession of continuities in memory and behaviour. In that case, why should anyone favour their future self?
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From:
report of Henry Sidgwick (The Methods of Ethics (7th edn) [1874]) by John Gray - Seven Types of Atheism 2
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A reaction:
This sounds like Locke's account of the self, as psychological continuity. We can say that our continuous self is a fiction, the hero of our own narrative. Personally I think of the self as a sustained set of brains structures which change very little.
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4129
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It is self-evident (from the point of view of the Universe) that no individual has more importance than another [Sidgwick]
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Full Idea:
It is a self-evident principle that the good of one individual is of no more importance, from the point of view of the Universe, than the good of any other, ..and as a rational being I am bound to aim at good generally, not merely at a particular part.
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From:
Henry Sidgwick (The Methods of Ethics (7th edn) [1874], III.XIII.3)
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A reaction:
Showing that even a very empirical theory like utilitarianism has an a priori basis. Of course, the principle is false. What about animals, the senile, criminals, androids? What bestows 'importance'?
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20662
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The biology of societies: kin selection, parenting, mating; status, territory, contracts [Wilson,EO]
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Full Idea:
Societies are ordered around six sociobiological principles: kin selection; parental investment; mating strategy; status; territorial expansion and defence; contractual agreement.
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From:
Edmund O. Wilson (Consilience [1998], 19 'Intro'), quoted by Peter Watson - Convergence
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A reaction:
I'm not sure I trust such a precise list. Personally I'm in society because I'm too frightend to drop out. So where is 'defence'? Still, I like attempts at assembling such a list. Politics needs grounding.
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