Too Much Morality

Abstract

This paper addresses the nature and relationship of morality and self-interest, arguing that what we morally ought to do almost always conflicts with what we self-interestedly ought to do. The concept of morality is analyzed as being essentially and radically other-regarding, and the category of the supererogatory is explained as consisting in what we morally ought to do but are not socially expected to do. I express skepticism about whether there is a coherent question, ‘Which ought I all things considered to obey?’ and suggest that the best substitute is a question about which is more important for me. Importance for a person, in turn, is explained as dependent upon what a person is disposed to care about. I suggest that morality and self-interest are both relatively unimportant for us when compared with our other ends. It is widely believed that morality conflicts to a significant degree with selfinterest. I shall defend this ordinary wisdom, but advance a view on which the conflict is much more radical than is ordinarily thought. More precisely, I shall argue that what we morally ought to do seldom coincides with what is best or even what is good for us, on the basis of an exceptionally stringent view of our moral requirements and an unexceptional view of self-interest. I shall also suggest that while there is no simple answer to the question of which, out of morality and self-interest, ought to take priority in our lives, virtually all of us will find the requirements of morality – but those of selfinterest too – excessive. The question of the relation between morality and self-interest is for many nonphilosophers one of the most interesting and pressing questions addressed by philosophical ethics, but they are likely to find the philosophical treatment frustrating: whereas nonphilosophers intend to enquire into the relation between two largely determinate things, philosophical disagreement is largely conceptual; philosophers use

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