There has been the discussion in the class on the principle
of ‘self-interest;’ primarily dealing with the different views that Mandeville
and Hutcheson held. Mandeville had the view point that people are naturally
self-interest and do not consider other peoples interest. On the other hand,
Hutcheson thought that people to be more “altruistic and driven by looking
after oneself, feelings for others, and the desire to better ones condition.”
Both had valid points in their argument. Later, Adam Smith adopted both of
those viewpoints to come up with his idea that people are naturally
self-interested but from their self-interest they contribute to others
well-being. I tend to agree with Smith. I believe that, yes, people are
naturally self-interested but they ultimately benefit society as a whole
through their work. In today’s society, I think that every single person is
motivated by self-interest; modern society is very selfish. In my eyes, the
work force is seen as a “dog eat dog” environment. Everyone is driven by the
idea that they want to prove them and be better than every competitor. This
type of competition provides the incentive for economies to grow. My question
is this, what do you think are the factors in society today that motivate
people to become successful or to better the economy? Do you think that people
are naturally self-interested?
One could argue that greed, wealth, and power motivate people in today's society. I would say that people attempt to become successful, mostly because of what comes from success; recognition and wealth. It is their self-interest, their desire to prove themselves important, that drives them to be successful. I think people feel this way naturally, it exists in how they are raised, children desire to be successful to prove themselves important to their parents and make them proud. Later in life, they want to be successful to not only to prove their importance to their parents, but to friends, other family, co-workers, and even their children. However, beyond self-interest, the desire for additional wealth and power can be strong motivating factors for an individual to become successful. An additional question I would pose is this, what is a better motivator for success, pure self-interest or something else, like wealth or power?
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