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Moral Squeamishness and the Invisible Contract: Revisiting the Underlying Logic of "Selflessness" from Ethical Egoism
- 1 School of Philosophy and Society, Jilin University, Changchun, China
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
In traditional ethics, "self-interest and altruism" is presented as a dichotomy. In the theoretical framework of ethical egoism, Hobbes" theory of the state of nature and social contract theory take self-interest as the fundamental driving force of human nature, and it has been consistently used in the construction of moral order in civilised societies, which dissolves the dichotomy of egoism-altruism. On the other hand, the purity of "good will" in Kant’s deontology is essentially illusory, and rational pleasure and implicit self-interest always constitute the deep-seated driving force of behaviour. Therefore, "rational self-interest", as a new paradigm of moral practice, stresses that social cooperation and civilisation advancement is actually an invisible contract made by self-interested people based on long-term interests. This perspective not only challenges the Utopian presuppositions of traditional ethics, but also provides a more realistic path for understanding the rational symbiosis between individuals and society.
Keywords
ethical egoism, selflessness, self-interest, invisible contract, moral dispelling
[1]. Hobbes. Leviathan. Translated by Lai Si-Fu and Lai Ting-Pi. Beijing: Commercial Press, 1986.
[2]. Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness. Translated by Qin Yu. Beijing: Huaxia Publishing House, 2007.
[3]. Kant. The Metaphysical Foundations of Morality. Translated by Miao Litian. Shanghai: Shanghai People's Publishing House, 2005.
[4]. Kant. Critique of Practical Reason. Beijing: People"s Publishing House, 2005. Beijing: People's Publishing House, 2003.
[5]. Nietzsche. On the Genealogy of Morality. Translated by Zhou Hong. Beijing: Life, Reading, and New Knowledge, 1992.
Cite this article
Lu,Y. (2025). Moral Squeamishness and the Invisible Contract: Revisiting the Underlying Logic of "Selflessness" from Ethical Egoism. Communications in Humanities Research,66,7-13.
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