| Enlightened Self-interest |
Article Index for Enlightened |
Information AboutEnlightened Self-interest |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT ENLIGHTENED SELF-INTEREST | |
| social ethics | |
| utilitarianism | |
| social philosophy | |
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Enlightened self-interest is the Ethical principle that when persons act to further the interests of others or at least the interests of the group or groups that they belong to, that such persons ultimately serve their own self-interests. This is in contrast to Greed or ''unenlightened'' self-interest, in which it is argued that when most or all persons act accoriding to their own Myopic Selfishness , that the group suffers enough as a result of inefficiencies due to conflict, the loss of efficiency because of lack of cooperation, and the increased costs each individual experiences for protection of that person's interests, that, picking any individual in the group at random, it is not likely that this person had profited from such an ethic. It is also not the same as pure Altruism in which a person acts in the interests of others often resulting in a net loss in that person's own interests and with no expectation of benefit for oneself in the future. Enlightened self-interest is considered to be unrealistically Idealistic and altruistic by some (often detractors) and realistically idealistic and Utilitarian by others (often proponents). SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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