Question

Freedom, responsibility, altruism, and self-interest.

How do these words relate?

Answer 1

As all are the part of ethical theory, they are relatable.

Freedom and responsibility

Freedom is intrinsically valuable; it is good for its own sake. The plausibility of this position may be illustrated by the (likely) fact that if you are walking along and someone shouts out in a commanding voice “STOP!” and you stop walking, you will rightly expect there to be a good reason that justified this interference. This supports the idea that we value liberty for its own sake and would limit it only if there is reason to do so (it would harm others or harm yourself or…). On the other hand, some philosophers see freedom as only instrumentally valuable, that is, only when it is used for good ends. According to them, if one freely steals from an innocent child (merely for the sake of entertainment), your freedom only makes the act worse than if you were compelled to do so.

Altruism means acting in the best interest of others rather than in one’s own self-interest. Some people believe altruism constitutes the essence of morality.

Although we often act selfishly, we also seem to be wired to cooperate with others. For example, studies show that when people look for mates, they tend to look for kindness more than any other quality.

Self-interest

Self-interest refers to actions that elicit personal benefit.Self-interest can be both a psychological and economic term. In general, it refers to individual actions and behaviors that provoke positive personal benefits. Throughout the years, economists have studied self-interest and the behaviors of rational self-interest to help develop theories and assumptions for the economy