Practical definitions: Self-interest, etc.
Posted by Marc Hodak on August 23, 2007 under Practical definitions | 
3 Comments to Read
Megan McArdle has really stepped into the collectivist swamp in her new gig at The Atlantic. Just check out the responses to her posts. Part of the problem is that she is speaking in a slightly different language from that of The Atlantic’s normal readers. So, here are some basic definitions of certain terms that appear to be causing at least some of the confusion.
Self-interest: You doing what you want to do.
Enlightened self-interest: You doing what I want you to do.
Social contract: Those with political power telling everyone else what to do.
Contrast the last definition with this:
Brute-force collectivism: Those with political power telling everyone else what to do.
I hope that helps.
Shakespeare's Fool said,
Why is it I was under the impression that
“Enlightened Self-Interest” was defined
by Andrew Carnegie building libraries
so he (and more so his descendants)
could live in a wealthier, freer,
more cultured, and less crime-ridden
world?
(And that by making donations to
The Grameen Foundation to further
the work of Muhammad Yunus, I am
following his example?)
Shakespeare's Fool said,
Why was I under the impression that
“Enlightened Self-Interest” was defined
by Andrew Carnegie building libraries
so he (and more so his descendants)
could live in a more cultured, wealthier,
and less crime-ridden world?
(And that in donating to the Gremeen
Foundation to further the work of
Muhammad Yunus, I was following his
example?)
M. Hodak said,
One could argue that if Carnegie (or you, with regards to Grameen) truly believed that such donations would result in a more cultured, wealthier, and less-crime-ridden world, and I don’t doubt it, why wouldn’t that be considered plain-vanilla self-interest without the modifier?
I don’t buy into the narrow definition of self-interest that excludes the kind of caring, even generous behavior that most people routinely engage in and feel good about. As a rule, whenever I hear someone describing their own behavior as “enlightened” self-interest, I rarely sense that they aren’t as pleased indulging in that behavior as they would be buying ice cream or shoes.