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www/philosophy self-interest.html
|
From: |
Yavor Doganov |
|
Subject: |
www/philosophy self-interest.html |
|
Date: |
Tue, 19 Jun 2007 11:27:15 +0000 |
CVSROOT: /web/www
Module name: www
Changes by: Yavor Doganov <yavor> 07/06/19 11:27:15
Modified files:
philosophy : self-interest.html
Log message:
Templated.
CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/self-interest.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.6&r2=1.7
Patches:
Index: self-interest.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/philosophy/self-interest.html,v
retrieving revision 1.6
retrieving revision 1.7
diff -u -b -r1.6 -r1.7
--- self-interest.html 6 May 2007 11:25:52 -0000 1.6
+++ self-interest.html 19 Jun 2007 11:27:05 -0000 1.7
@@ -1,48 +1,44 @@
-<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
-<HTML>
-<HEAD>
-<TITLE>Self-Interest - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)</TITLE>
-<LINK REV="made" HREF="mailto:address@hidden";>
-<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
-</HEAD>
-<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#1F00FF" ALINK="#FF0000"
VLINK="#9900DD">
-<H3>Self-Interest</H3>
-
-<A HREF="/graphics/philosophicalgnu.html"><IMG
SRC="/graphics/philosophical-gnu-sm.jpg"
- ALT=" [image of a Philosophical Gnu] "
- WIDTH="160" HEIGHT="200"></A>
-
-<!-- Please keep this list alphabetical!!! -->
-[
- <A HREF="/philosophy/self-interest.zh-cn.html">Chinese(Simplified)</A>
-| <A HREF="/philosophy/self-interest.zh-tw.html">Chinese(Traditional)</A>
-| <A HREF="/philosophy/self-interest.html">English</A>
-| <A HREF="/philosophy/self-interest.fr.html">French</A>
-]
-
-<P>
-Is Self-Interest Sufficient to Organize an Free Economy?<P>
-The quick answer is, "No." And few of the better-known theoreticians
-of the free-market have ever thought that self-interest was, or even
-could be, sufficient to organize, or long maintain, a free economy.
-Among those theoreticians, Adam Smith is often regarded as having been
-the primary philosopher of self-interest. In a book written to
-correct a number of misunderstandings of Smith's teachings, we find
-the following summaries of Smith's view about self-interest:
-<P>
-"Far from being an individualist, Smith believed it is the influence
+<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
+<title>Self-Interest - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)</title>
+<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
+<h2>Self-Interest</h2>
+
+<p>by <strong>Loyd Fueston</strong></p>
+
+<p>
+Is Self-Interest Sufficient to Organize an Free Economy?</p>
+
+<p>
+The quick answer is, “No.” And few of the better-known
+theoreticians of the free-market have ever thought that self-interest
+was, or even could be, sufficient to organize, or long maintain, a
+free economy. Among those theoreticians, Adam Smith is often regarded
+as having been the primary philosopher of self-interest. In a book
+written to correct a number of misunderstandings of Smith's teachings,
+we find the following summaries of Smith's view about
+self-interest:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+Far from being an individualist, Smith believed it is the influence
of society that transforms people into moral beings. He thought that
-people often misjudge their own self-interest."
-<P>
-Even more directly to the point:
-<P>
-"[Adam Smith] regarded the attempt to explain all human behavior on
+people often misjudge their own self-interest.
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>
+Even more directly to the point:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+[Adam Smith] regarded the attempt to explain all human behavior on
the basis of self-interest as analytically misguided and morally
-pernicious."
-<P>
-[Both quotes are from page 2 of "Adam Smith: In His Time and Ours",
-Jerry Z. Muller, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993.]
-<P>
+pernicious.
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>
+[Both quotes are from page 2 of “Adam Smith: In His Time and
+Ours”, Jerry Z. Muller, Princeton: Princeton University Press,
+1993.]</p>
+
+<p>
As Adam Smith certainly realized, self-interest will be one of the
principal forces organizing economic activities in any society, but
that is as true of the most repressive or brutal society as it is of
@@ -52,18 +48,18 @@
most Soviet citizens, the leaders of the Communist Party and of the
Soviet military and intelligence services were advancing their own
self-interests, at least as they understood or misunderstood those
-interests.
-<P>
+interests.</p>
+<p>
The advantages enjoyed by Americans over citizens of the Soviet
countries, and the advantages we still enjoy over the nominally free
-citizens of Russia and other eastern European countries, are those
-of a society organized to allow a high percentage of Americans to act in
+citizens of Russia and other eastern European countries, are those of
+a society organized to allow a high percentage of Americans to act in
such a way as to serve both their self-interest and some substantial
stock of moral principles. Not only our habits and customs, but also
-our positive laws -- such as those of copyright -- enter into that
-organization of our society, for good or bad, but not in a morally
-neutral manner.
-<P>
+our positive laws — such as those of copyright — enter
+into that organization of our society, for good or bad, but not in a
+morally neutral manner.</p>
+<p>
Self-interest is not necessarily evil, though it can lead people to act
in morally reprehensible ways. The love of self, and the consequent
development of self-interest, is one aspect of a creature who is also
@@ -80,8 +76,8 @@
always: Is our society organized properly, in its positive laws and
in the habits we teach our children and reinforce in ourselves, so that
self-interest and moral principles do not generally come into
-conflict?
-<P>
+conflict?</p>
+<p>
Those people aware of modern mathematics or of programming techniques
should appreciate the recursive, and inherently unstable, interactions
between individual morality and social structure. To oversimplify in
@@ -93,32 +89,36 @@
inevitably a question as to whether we are straying from a proper path
and also a question as to how robust the society is, i.e., how much
of a disturbance it would take to destroy much of what is good about that
-society.
-<P>
+society.</p>
+<p>
Sometimes, good people will decide that something has gone wrong and
it is time to fight for a moral principle even if it becomes necessary
to sacrifice, or at least qualify, their own self-interest. In the
-words of Thomas Sowell, a free-market theorist of our time:
-<P>
-"There are, of course, noneconomic values. Indeed, there are
-<i>only</i> noneconomic values. Economics is not a value itself but
+words of Thomas Sowell, a free-market theorist of our time:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+There are, of course, noneconomic values. Indeed, there are
+<em>only</em> noneconomic values. Economics is not a value itself but
merely a method of trading off one value against another. If
-statements about 'noneconomic values' (or, more specifically, 'social
-values' or 'human values') are meant to deny the inherent reality of
-trade-offs, or to exempt some particular value from the trade-off
-process, then such selfless ideals can be no more effectively
-demonstrated than by trading off financial gains in the interest of
-such ideals. This is an economic trade-off." [from page 79 of
-"Knowledge & Decisions", Thomas Sowell, New York: Basic Books, 1980.]
-<P>
-In context, Professor Sowell was not arguing against those
-imputing some sort of moral power to self-interest; he was instead
-arguing against those who think there should be an easy path to the
-reform of a society which may have a particular moral defect. Those
-are two sides to the same coin -- serving self-interest may put a
-person in conflict with moral values and the attempt to serve moral
-values may lead to some sacrifice of one's self-interest.
-<P>
+statements about ‘noneconomic values’ (or, more
+specifically, ‘social values’ or ‘human
+values’) are meant to deny the inherent reality of trade-offs,
+or to exempt some particular value from the trade-off process, then
+such selfless ideals can be no more effectively demonstrated than by
+trading off financial gains in the interest of such ideals. This is an
+economic trade-off. <tt>[from page 79 of “Knowledge &
+Decisions”, Thomas Sowell, New York: Basic Books, 1980.]</tt>
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>
+In context, Professor Sowell was not arguing against those imputing
+some sort of moral power to self-interest; he was instead arguing
+against those who think there should be an easy path to the reform of
+a society which may have a particular moral defect. Those are two
+sides to the same coin — serving self-interest may put a person
+in conflict with moral values and the attempt to serve moral values
+may lead to some sacrifice of one's self-interest.</p>
+<p>
Self-interest can be a powerful fuel for a society, at least when the
citizens of that society are well-formed individuals, but there is
no mystical or magical aspect to self-interest that guarantees moral
@@ -129,36 +129,73 @@
rather by the acts of people who are aiming at a higher purpose, whether
the preservation of liberty in the society as a whole or the
preservation of a cooperative spirit within communities of
-programmers, or maybe both of those at the same time.
-
-<P>
+programmers, or maybe both of those at the same time.</p>
-<HR>
+</div>
-<H4><A HREF="/philosophy/philosophy.html">Other Texts to Read</A></H4>
+<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" -->
+<div id="footer">
-<HR>
-
-Return to <A HREF="/home.html">GNU's home page</A>.
-<P>
-FSF & GNU inquiries & questions to
-<A HREF="mailto:address@hidden";><EM>address@hidden</EM></A>.
-Other <A HREF="/home.html#ContactInfo">ways to contact</A> the FSF.
-<P>
-Comments on these web pages to
-<A HREF="mailto:address@hidden";><EM>address@hidden</EM></A>,
-send other questions to
-<A HREF="mailto:address@hidden";><EM>address@hidden</EM></A>.
-<P>
-Copyright (C) 1998 <A HREF="mailto:address@hidden";>Loyd Fueston</A>
-<P>
-Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is
+<p>
+Please send FSF & GNU inquiries to
+<a href="mailto:address@hidden";><em>address@hidden</em></a>.
+There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a>
+the FSF.
+<br />
+Please send broken links and other corrections or suggestions to
+<a href="mailto:address@hidden";><em>address@hidden</em></a>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Please see the
+<a href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
+README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting
+translations of this article.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Copyright © 1998 Loyd
+Fueston <a href="mailto:address@hidden";><address@hidden></a></p>
+<p>Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is
permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.
-<P>
+</p>
+
+<p>
Updated:
<!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2007/05/06 11:25:52 $
+$Date: 2007/06/19 11:27:05 $
<!-- timestamp end -->
-<HR>
-</BODY>
-</HTML>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div id="translations">
+<h4>Translations of this page</h4>
+
+<!-- Please keep this list alphabetical. -->
+<!-- Comment what the language is for each type, i.e. de is German. -->
+<!-- Write the language name in its own language (Deutsch) in the text. -->
+<!-- If you add a new language here, please -->
+<!-- advise address@hidden and add it to -->
+<!-- - /home/www/bin/nightly-vars either TAGSLANG or WEBLANG -->
+<!-- - /home/www/html/server/standards/README.translations.html -->
+<!-- - one of the lists under the section "Translations Underway" -->
+<!-- - if there is a translation team, you also have to add an alias -->
+<!-- to mail.gnu.org:/com/mailer/aliases -->
+<!-- Please also check you have the 2 letter language code right, cf. -->
+<!-- <URL:http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/IG/ert/iso639.htm> -->
+<!-- Please use W3C normative character entities. -->
+
+<ul class="translations-list">
+<!-- English -->
+<li><a href="/philosophy/self-interest.html">English</a> [en]</li>
+<!-- French -->
+<li><a
href="/philosophy/self-interest.fr.html">Français</a> [fr]</li>
+<!-- Chinese (Simplified) -->
+<li><a
href="/philosophy/self-interest.zh-cn.html">简体中文</a> [zh-cn]</li>
+<!-- Chinese (Traditional) -->
+<li><a
href="/philosophy/self-interest.zh-tw.html">繁體中文</a> [zh-tw]</li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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