Morality & Self-Regard

The great moral theories and our common-sense moral intuitions alike are generally and essentially "other-regarding". One may see moral obligations as basically negative, that is, that morality is exclusively about limits: about the way we are not to interfere with the projects of others: 'don't kill, don't abuse children, etc.' , or one may claim that we have positive duties to others in addition to the basic rules of non-interference: 'be kind to children and animals' (perfect duties), or 'take part in charitable giving from time to time' (imperfect duties). Regardless of which conception or which mixture of the two seems right, it remains the case that the fundamental problems, insights, and debates of morality are more concerned with 'others' than with 'selves'.

In September, shortly after returning to the States, I had the opportunity to present some thoughts at an honors seminar at CUC. Using Jean Hampton's important paper 'Selflessness and Loss of Self' as a starting point, I tried to sketch the tension between duties to others and duties to ourselves, roughly, that in order for an altruistic act to be authentic it must be performed by an agent that is a "self-respecter" in an importantly moral sense. Being a moral respecter of oneself involves an awareness of one's intrinsic moral worth (in the Kantian sense) and an appreciation for the legitimate needs of any human life. Clearly we do and ought to have duties to others, but Hampton's line of thought suggests that acts performed for the sake of others lose their moral value when they necessitate the alienation of the agent: 'Sometimes it's good to be selfish and bad to be selfless.' Morality, suggests Hampton, needs to be 'self-regarding' as well as 'other-regarding'.

A short period of discussion followed the presentation and I was astonished at how relevant this issue is for the Adventist community. Several of the students expressed mild guilt at not being able to do enough for others because of the demands of their studies! Of course, a proper investigation of the problem in the Christian context would no doubt bring up discussions of the Biblical notion of 'dying to self'. I'm not prepared to pursue this. But I do suggest that seeing others as intrinsically valuable equals (as surely the altruist must do on some level) requires moral self-regard. The most attractive and plausible altruistic agent performs and even exceeds duties to others while retaining a non-defensive attitude of respect for her own self.