Altruism (ethics) - As Consequentialist Ethics

As Consequentialist Ethics

Altruism is often seen as a form of consequentialism, as it indicates that an action is ethically right if it brings good consequences to others. James Fieser states the altruist dictum as: "An action is morally right if the consequences of that action are more favorable than unfavorable to everyone except the agent." Altruism may be seen as similar to utilitarianism, however an essential difference is that the latter prescribes acts that maximize good consequences for all of society, while altruism prescribes maximizing good consequences for everyone except the actor. Arguably, however, since the rest of society will almost always outnumber the utilitarian, a genuine utilitarian will inevitably end up practicing altruism or a form of altruism. Contrarily, under classical economic principles, many utilitarians argued that self-interest maximized societal well being. Such a position would conflict with the previous assertion that, because there is practically always more than two agents in the world, a utilitarian must be an altruist. In fact, the human condition is such that if everyone were a practicing altruist, likely all the unsatisfied selfish desires would decrease the aggregate human happiness in the world. That assertion can only be justified by individual reflection on the following question: could I be happy without ever entertaining myself in pursuits that benefit only me? It is more likely the case that the optimization of pleasure would require a life mostly spent in the contemplation of selfish pursuits with a small but generous amount of time spent in the service of others. Indeed, if that were recognized as a universal rule by all the part of mankind which could potentially donate its time, as distinguished from those who must work long hours merely to sustain existence, the donated time required to maximize pleasure would be very small compared to the time that an individual could spend in the pursuit of selfish interests.