Positive effect of self-interest examined in 'A Theory of Prudence'


LAWRENCE — We are often judged by how we treat others. But what about how we treat ourselves?

“I don’t think the term ‘self-interest’ should have the negative connotation that it frequently does,” said Dale Dorsey, a professor of philosophy at the University of Kansas.
 
Dale Dorsey, University of Kansas professor“We don’t want people to be selfish, focusing only on themselves or to a greater extent than other people in a hyperinflated way. But we do need to think about our own interests. When I advise students about what major to choose, I’m advising them in part to consider what makes them happy, what would give them a better life.”

His new book, “A Theory of Prudence,” argues that prudence is an important aspect of decision-making and one that needs to be taken more seriously. Dorsey said it’s the first contemporary work to treat prudential metaethics, value and normativity together. It’s published by Oxford University Press.

“This theory involves how we should treat ourselves, in particular how we should treat ourselves at different times of life. We may have very different goals, aims and desires as life goes on. The book tries to address how we ought to respond to those changes,” he said.

Dorsey recognized that the term prudence is often misunderstood.

"A Theory of Prudence" book cover“People think of prudence as this Victorian-era virtue similar to temperance, where you’re not supposed to experience anything like pleasure,” he said. “You envision people wearing buttoned-up collars and wagging their fingers at others. In philosophy, that’s not what we mean by prudence.”

Dorsey said that to be prudent is to treat yourself well — just as to be moral is to treat others well. So the question becomes what are the demands of prudence? What makes your life better or worse over time?

“I examine how you characterize the value of a life and promote it to the best extent, knowing you’re only living a certain tiny bit of it in the moment,” he said.

For example, Dorsey jokingly referred to himself as a “former hardcore punk rocker.” Back then, he thought he’d rather die than drive a minivan with a couple of kids riding in back.

“How should I now, as the minivan driver with two kids, respond to these desires that I used to have?” he asked.

“I can remember that punk-rock self and think, ‘I was really misguided.’ Yet ignoring your past self is a kind of hypocrisy because right now you’re sincerely hoping that your future self doesn’t ignore your current one. You’re planning in advance. You want to have a good career and financial stability. All that stuff relies on your future self doing things that are responsive to your current wants and needs. So if you’re just going to say to your past self, ‘Go jump off a cliff,’ then why wouldn’t your future self say that to you?”

Individuals often take the future into consideration, as when saving for retirement, visiting the dentist or not getting drunk at night if needing to be at work early the next morning. The question emerges whether to treat the future with the same significance as the present.

“Imagine if some psychic comes to me and tells me how my future self is going to be completely different than I am, want things that I don’t, do things I don’t like,” Dorsey said. “Should I try to undermine my future self? Should I pursue things now that I don’t believe in for the sake of my future self, even though I consider that future self misguided? These seem like weird questions, but they actually come up all the time, whether you’re contemplating having children or a potential career change.”

Could this mean we are at a point in society where self-interest is at an all-time high? Dorsey does not think so.

“Plenty of people have been really self-interested over the course of time, and it’s only recently when our communication with others in the world has expanded,” he said.

“It used to be that we could only communicate with like 10 other people — travel was hard, interaction was hard. The difference between acting morally and acting self-interestedly wasn’t that big a gap. Now when our actions have such a wide reverberation, people are actually responding more to the interests of others.”

A KU faculty member since 2008, Dorsey has also chaired the philosophy department for the past five years. The Kansas native’s research focuses on ethics, with books that include “The Limits of Moral Authority” (Oxford University Press, 2016) and “The Basic Minimum: A Welfarist Approach” (Cambridge University Press, 2012).

He said he hoped “A Theory of Prudence” helps everyone see how acknowledging your self-interest isn’t always just a matter of doing what you want to in the moment.
 
“This involves careful consideration of what you value, what your future self values and what your past self has valued,” Dorsey said. “Acting in your own interest is very complicated and requires a lot of rational reflection.”

Photo: Dale Dorsey at the 2019 University Scholarly Achievement Awards ceremony. Credit: KU Marketing Communications.

Tue, 10/26/2021

author

Jon Niccum

Media Contacts

Jon Niccum

KU News Service

785-864-7633