[MD] Altruism

[Ben Golden]

First off, Platt, I owe you an apology.  That link you sent about Randian 
selfishness--I didn't read it thoroughtly enough, assumed I remembered what 
it was all about and wasted both our time.  Reading it again, I think I have 
a much better understanding of what we're disagreeing about.

It's unfortunate that Rand chose to use the word 'selfish' to mean something 
different that its usual definition (which doesn't say anything about 
respecting others' property rights).  The dictionary definition you give for 
altruism is dependent on the meaning of the word selfish, which adds extra 
confusion.  Hilariously, the whole point in my bringing up altruism was to 
point out a problem with the word morality.

I'd like to separate the language into different terms, so as to clarify 
what I mean when I use selfish or altruistic.
Dictionary selfishness is behavior for the benefit of oneself, without 
regard for how it affects anyone else.
Randian selfishness is self-respecting, self-supporting behavior, wherein a 
person neither sacrifices others to himself nor sacrifices himself to others 
(basically, do whatever you want, but don't violate property rights)
Dictionary altruism (labeled because it uses the dictionary definitions of 
altruism AND selfishness) is behavior that is devoted to the welfare of 
others but not dictionary selfish.
Economic altruism is what I've been advocating, which is similar but not 
identical to dictionary altruism.  Economic altruism involves acting a way 
that is indifferent between the welfare of oneself and of others.  
Economically altruistic actions are those that help the group more than they 
hurt the group.
Randian altruism is behavior devoted to the welfare of others that 
necessarily involves a violation of property rights.

I think that by these definitions, I can explain all the disagreements we've 
been having.  A robber is dictionary selfish but not Randian selfish.  
Giving to charity is dictionary altruistic and generally economically 
altruistic but not Randian altruistic.

I don't have a particularly big problem with Randian selfishness; I think 
it's actually much closer to economic altruism than to dictionary 
selfishness, since it prohibits behavior that imposes costs on 
others--something economic altruists care about but dictionary selfish 
people do not.

A couple examples:

1)  John is wealthy.  A government worker, Tom, takes 100$ from John, 
claiming to be acting altruistically.  Tom keeps 40$ as his salary, wastes 
30$ and divides the remaining 30$ amongst poor people.

2)  John is wealthy.  A government worker, Tom, takes 100$ from John, 
claiming to be acting altruistically.  Tom keeps 2$ as his salary, wastes 2$ 
and divides the remaining 96$ amongst poor people.

In 1, John is acting Randian altruistically, since he violates John's 
property rights in order to benefit others.  Whether he's dictionary 
altruistic is debatable, since he attains a sizable benefit.  What's clear 
is that he's not economically altruistic, since costs exceed benefits.  In 
2, John is still Randian altruistic and more likely dictionary altruistic.  
I'd say he's now economically altruistic and I'd support this behavior.  I 
can offer a mathematical argument for why 2 is economically altruistic while 
1 is not, but allow me to ask a question first.  As an objectivist, is there 
any difference in the morality of 1 and 2?  They seem to violate Randian 
selfishness equally, so if they're not morally equivalent, what's the 
principle by which you distinguish them?

In summary, I generally support an economically altruistic government.  I 
think that capitalism generally supports economic altruism.  I generally 
oppose "altruistic" policies, as I find them to fall into category 1 and not 
category 2.  However, there are some policies, such as school vouchers, 
health care vouchers or a negative income tax that I'd place in category 
2--so long as they're kept pretty small--and thus support.

Ben

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