RATIONAL SELFISHNESS OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. Ganna Likhonosova РАЦИОНАЛНИЯТ ЕГОИЗЪМ НА СОЦИАЛНО-ИКОНОМИЧЕСКОТО РАЗВИТИЕ.

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1 УПРАВЛЕНИЕ И ОБРАЗОВАНИЕ MANAGEMENT AND EDUCATION TOM IX (1) 2013 VOL. IX (1) 2013 RATIONAL SELFISHNESS OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Ganna Likhonosova РАЦИОНАЛНИЯТ ЕГОИЗЪМ НА СОЦИАЛНО-ИКОНОМИЧЕСКОТО РАЗВИТИЕ Галя Ликхоносова ABSTRACT: Rendered author's vision of rational egoism national priorities and social values Ukraine illustrated interpretation criteria of rational egoism. Characterize opposing positions behavior of economic actors - egoism and altruism. Substantiates the need for Ukraine to new standards of economic behavior by comparing the moral principles of personal interests and social values. The basic obstacle that prevent the individual to choose the path of development through the mechanisms of rational egoists. Key words: selfishness, rationality, priority, personal interests, sustainable development, social values. Actuality In modern understanding, a term "egoism" causes the negative associations, related to the opinion of personality's superiority, ignoring an idea of other people, putting person's own interests above others. But is it always negative to achieve aims with such methods? What spheres of activity or industries of production do we speak about? And how it influences on the achieved result? A term "egoism" has an antonym. It is "altruism". And it has an absolutely opposite meaning - a man does everything for surrounding people, helps everyone, and never refuses in a request, often in harm to himself, to his health and the personal life [1, p. 24]. Very often, an altruist does not have a special respect from people, and also he does not respect himself very much, helping everyone, even strangers. It is hard to call a life of such people "happy", because often they can understand that they say "yes" first of all in harm to themselves. Certainly, any man can change and learn to say "no", but it needs a lot of effort, desire and volition. Nevertheless, such changes will be a good thing for this man and society on the whole. Altruism in its extreme forms leads to moral degradation, because it is possible to justify any crime against individual by serving to the common good and higher interests. History shows a plenty of examples, because dictators always played a role of "a father of nation". Besides, altruism is an amoral category, because it doesn't let people get their just deserts. Speaking about the necessity of fair distribution, it punishes successful people for their success and takes away results of their labour and at the same time it rewards unlucky persons for their failures, giving undeserved good to them. The altruism systematically destroys creators and businessmen, forming envious social parasites. Unlike irrational altruism, an egoism is a rational phenomenon. As it is extremely difficult to be an ideal of altruism, a person has a deep sense of guilt, so he becomes the comfortable object of manipulations. But what society will we have if all people will be egoists? Will not it change into the arena of endless enmity? To see the groundlessness of these fears, it is needed to understand a basic principle of mutual relations of selfish people. It is a principle of value exchange. Those, who live on principle of exchange, never give and take nothing for free. It concerns all spheres of their life such as personal, public and private. People, who put a principle of exchange on the first place, want to be loved for their virtue, but not for their weaknesses and defects. Thus, selfish people eliminate from the relations everyone, who does not agree to live on principle of exchange. Parasites, beggars, thieves, savages and robbers do not have any value for a man and that is why they also can not get any advantages from the society which is disturbed by their needs. 75

2 The Setting of the Problem You can hear, that love needs sacrifices. But Ayn Rand categorically does not agree with it. Love and friendship are extremely personal, selfish values. Person's worry about well-being of those he loves is a rational part of his personal interests. A man gets extremely personal and selfish gladness just from existence of someone he loves [2]. Prejudice against egoism is extremely strong. That is why Rand's intellectual courage is worthy of respect. She said that a notion of egoism must not be given to the enemies of humanity, and also to the thoughtless misunderstanding, distortions, prejudices and fears, what is typical for uneducated and unwise. Attacks on egoism are attacks on human dignity; to give up one means to refuse from another [2]. The overview of the recent surveys A notion "rational egoism" is related to the idea of some thinkers of ХVIII century about an "invisible hand", which uses a following of the personal aims by individuals to the general benefit of society. This idea was marked in labours of B. Mandeville, D. Hume, J. Tucker, A. Fergusone, E. Berk, and get a conceptually perfective aspect in the economic theory of A. Smith. A value of this idea was enormous. Because until now political thinkers in most cases imagined a relation between the personal and public interests ("state interests") in absolutely opposite way. Following own interests by individual was something that puts in jeopardy public interests. Therefore it was characterized as "selfish". Such ideas generated the projects of the ideal political system, when all activity of society would be strictly controlled by respectable and wise rulers, and dangerous spontaneity would be eliminated [3]. British liberal thinkers of ХVIII century [4] offered quite another vision of relation between the personal and public interests. They showed that at certain institutional terms public interests can be realized in the best way on the basis of following by individuals their personal aims. As Friedrich Hayek marked [4], they tried to "find the set of institutes, that would induce a man to make a maximally possible contribution to satisfaction of necessities of all others by his own choice ; It was a surprise for them that a system of private property motivates more, than they thought before". This set of institutes creates a social system, the functioning of which does not require a search of respectable people for management or improvement of all people simultaneously, but it uses people in all their variety and complication [4]. Basic research material We can not claim that egoism is fully a positive feature, but it also hard to call it cardinally negative. Egoists got used to pay a little attention to the relationships with people, that is why they almost do not have friends, because first of all they are interested in themselves, and sometimes they even try to manipulate a person to get something they need. But, finally, when they get what they need, they lose another potential friend. Their main distinctive feature is that they do not recognize their egoism. After a short discussion of egoism and altruism we can understand that neither first nor second we can not call a good quality. A permanent worry only about yourself will result in loneliness, and a permanent worry only about others will result in nervous derangement, because nobody endure a permanent tension and tiredness for somebody's whims. Philosophers, who are dealing with the psychological question of egoism say about an interesting notion - "rational egoism". From one side such a man does not sacrifice himself and his forces, and from other he absolutely does not require these sacrifices from surrounding people. It means an egoist that fully satisfies his desires and necessities, but sometimes with pleasure helps his close people. Today, a new coil of the spiral of socio-economic development of society can lead exactly to such egoism. In dictionary's interpretation the development is a process which causes a change of something, transformation from one state of quality to another - higher one. It also means a level of education, intelligence, spiritual maturity [1, p. 1234]. Thus, the egoism as the means of changing of personal parameters is a powerful lever of social development. In this example, we can see the effect of synergy because of co-operation of such egoists everybody has his own aim and own development, they compete for own individuality, but the results of their actions become a property of society, as a positive action of personality factors. Thus, worry about yourself is the main that anyone must do to feel inner harmony and calmness, and only then you can care of all surrounding. Certainly, within reasonable limits. How to 76

3 calculate such limit, what to take as criteria of " rationality "? Here we must pay more attention to rational, than to allowed or accepted by modern society. So if a rationalism is a direction in the theory of cognition, that considers a mind as an only source and criterion of cognition, judicious attitude to life, to doings [5, p. 634], rational is someone who bases on mind, try to do his best [1, p. 1203], and egoism is a tendency to behave for your own interests [1, p. 336], then rational egoism is an advantageous tactic of behavior for the achievement of your own goals. So what does not let a man to be a rational egoist, to make good for himself and to work for the futher interests of society on the whole? It is possible to tell many reasons, let's discuss some of them more detailed. To have a life, which other like. It would be a mistake to say that a person does not need such a life. Such life fully satisfies many people. People need guaranties of safety, and they find them, adding themselves to traditions, customs of the society where they live, following its rules and doing all that required from them. Certainly, they lose all guarantees, if they stop to play the role given. But then people stop to take initiative and getting used to equate the ideas about their life according to the requirements of surrounding. As a compensation they are offered to satisfy their queries. For example, flatteries such as admiration of thoroughness, successes and everything you can reach with its help. Even if actually nobody needs it. Most of our desires and dreams, aspirations and necessities are still unrealized, because we are busy with other people's interests. For sure, not many people aim to make from their life something bigger than it is allowed by society. And those, who dare, do not reach their dreams, because they do not understand all obstacles that stand on their way. From one side these are obstacles prepared for us by society, but on the other hand these are obstacles that were formed by ourselves. It is a habit to adapt, to follow the subordination. Also these are codes of conduct, moral cliches and permanent fear to lose prestige and recognizing. A deficit of time, overstrain and tactfulness to others are the most frequent excuses to set aside the decision of own problems, while they will grow into mighty barriers that cause our existence. For example, millions of people do everything to ruin their health during the life. However, in case of appearance of serious illness doctors must come to help. Doctors, advocates, bankers, teachers are a part of society, from which people expect a prompt assistance in problems, which they avoided to the last moment themselves. Everyone understand that an architect, builder, mechanic or doctor, needs three, five or even ten years to learn the profession. We need time to learn to recognize our own desires, to make a tactic of its embodiment in life too. We use the time to learn ourselves to get through failures. A person must learn to make independent decisions and use all forces for their realization. But it is more comfortable to shift the responsibility for events on others from the beginning. And to do everything to have acquittal of the failure in case of attaining no success. Most people often included into a conflict with themselves - because of pity or tactfulness. We express an admiration, but feel an opposite feeling. Quite possible in this moment a person begins to believe that she is admirated. Usually it is more comfortable than to say to someone: "Listen, you can think that your idea is wonderful and try to persuade me in this. I do not care". A person, who you will talk to, will be surprised and maybe even will stop a conversation. That is why most people will want to save his good feelings and will continue to dissemble in future, not understanding their own real feelings about it. People are ready to give everything for other people: their energy, capabilities, health. It needs not only physical but also moral forces [6, p. 28]. What is the main deception in this case? People think that if they give everything for the wellbeing of others, for the welfare of a firm, for general equality and prosperity, then they do not need to do something for themselves. Often a person identifies himself with a society and considers that public welfare automatically means personal welfare. Unfortunately, it is not so. More we contribute to the prosperity of, for example, firm, less personal resources we have for own development. A person, who is satisfied because he is praised, spared or put in an example, can not be at free, harmonious and be engaged in selfrealization. He voluntarily gets into a public whirlpool, which requires new and new sacrifices. So if a person does not wish to finish his life, being deceived and forgotten by those, who he lived for, having a lot of complaints to himself, 77

4 then he must mobilize all forces to the defence of own ideas about life, instead of sacrificing them for others. The hurt pride make a person to do an exceptional, heroic acts that exceed our capabilities. Desiring to obtain a recognition, we spend all our forces aimlessly, because it does not help to implement our personal desire. Thus, egoism realizes the personal desires and also help to hold the level of socio-economic development in "correct state" and necessary proportions (Fig. 1). It does not allow them to increase or to unite exactly because it occupies an intermediate position between them. In this case an egoism will be a "cure", but not a "poison" for personality. Moderation Realization in society Rationality EGOISM Self-realization Mental balance, Physical health Fig. 1. The influence of egoism on personality's ability of realization Necessity of moderation and rationality of egoism are based on a mental balance and physical health. Mental balance and physical health are a necessary condition for the demonstration of man's personality. It is clear that for physically sick person it will be hard to be engaged in selfrealization, and talking about a psychonosema we can not think about any realization at all. Moderation is responsible for cooperating of man with the surrounding world. Also moderation positively influences on the level of person's physical and moral conditions, which are becoming a source of display of rational egoism. At the same time moderation always ready to limit the extra displays of egoism, if a person will transcend. At the same time rational egoism creates a feed-back, generating a moderate optimism and improving the physical and moral condition of his transmitter. Speaking about rational egoism, it is needed to underline again the role of mind, developed intellect, common sense, that allow to give a new, humanistic quality to egoism. Actually, a person must show the individuality in her selfrealization, which gives sense and unicity to her life. In other, less important questions, moderation that assists to the development of physical condition and accumulation of moral forces will be a rational choice (Fig. 2). So, a basis of liberalism is or must be an egoism. This idea is a result of identification of individualism and egoism. An ideal for enemies of open society is a tribal society, where every member,not having the developed individual consciousness, identifies himself with a tribe, and all people operate for common aims. Society, where everybody follows his own aims, but not common aims of all society, seems to be a society of egoists. However, we ignore a circumstance that the aim of individual can be not his selfish interests, but well-being of people, serving to the art or science, public ideals or the prosperity of his society or humanity on the whole. The personal aims of individual are the personal not because they are always selfish, but because they are individual. They are in a personal system of values of this individual, and they have some differences from the personal system of values of any other individual. 78

5 society moderation Rational egoism Self-realization personal uniqueness Egoism Mental balance monetary intake harmony Fig. 2. Derivative processes of forming of egoism A human mind is an interpersonal process, where each contribution is checked up and corrected by others. It does not mean that all people are equal with their capabilities, but it means that nobody has an authority to make a final judgment about someone's capabilities and to give a permission on their application As socio-economic practice shows, egoism is not something bad, but useful for society ethic position. It is necessary only to do some limitations. It must be "rational" egoism, it means it must be following of own interests. The "correct understanding" is a desire of individual not for instantaneous satisfaction of his whims, but understanding of utility and possible consequences of this action. Correctly understood selfish interests of individual coincide with the interests of society. In fact an individual can realize his interests only in society. That is why all, that assists strengthening of society is in interests of individual, and all, that bring an unbalance to society, conflicts with interests of individual. Establishment of "rational egoism" is associated with the supporters of philosophy of objectivism. Philosophy of objectivism was founded by the American authoress Ayn Rand [2]. Rand links rational egoism with a personal freedom, and altruism with a totalitarianism(when it is required from a person to sacrifice himself for the interests of the state, nation, for the bright communist future, etc). Egoism, unlike altruism, means an existence of a person, who independently takes care of himself, sacrificing neither himself nor others. At the same way the American economist and philosopher Arthur Okun [4] interprets a wordcombination "civilized egoism". He marks that worry about own interests is fully compatible with the civilized egoism, which is a base of devotion to family, association, state, - they enrich a person and expand the range of person's interests [4]. Protecting egoism, he also talks that this human property is a good protection from far more dangerous blind trust to the political leader or state. Opposition between liberalism and authoritarianism in relation to egoism-altruism, virtuedepravity and to other categories really exists, but it has other character. Because it is impossible to worry about of happiness of someone you despite. If a society allows to the individual to satisfy his own desires more completely, it doesn't mean that there is no conflict between actions for his welfare and actions for the welfare of other people (existence or non existence of such conflict depends on a concrete situation and from that, who are these "other people"), that interests of individuals finally coincide. Absence of opposi- 79

6 tion between a duty and selfish interests, does not mean, that there is an equality between them. In some cases it is an opposition, in other cases it is a coincidence. But, it is possible to argue that person's interests and interests of society are not identical, and coincide only sometimes and partly. Undoubtedly, an individual is interested in existence of society as a pre-condition for realization of his own interests. But it does not mean, that he can not to think that it is advantageous to satisfy his interests, using other people, weakening a public peace and increasing a threat of destruction of society at the same time. To explain how it can be possible, let's analyse a question about the person's interest in the increase of the labour productivity in a socialistic society, in other words in the conditions when a size of remuneration is determined not by a productivity of his own labour, but by total labour productivity in a society. In such terms an individual is interested in more productive work of other people, but he does not want to work better himself, because his additional efforts will produce an additional product, which is distributed on all members of society, and an individual gets only a miserable part from it. It is easy to see that this example is only a partial case of more general question, question about correlation of interests of individual and society. From the point of view of selfish interests of a person, it is useful to have a strong society, where all people think about interests of others. However, it can be advantageously for him to use a fully opposite method, thinking about interests of society only in that measure he can expect from a society in reply. Antisocial behavior of one man can not influence on a general state of society in such a way to make this man feel these negative consequences on himself. Conclusions From the point of view of selfish motives it is not needed to think about a preservation of society. Something, what an individual can refuse from, for the society, will be not equal to his part of common benefit, which will be got by all society from his refusal. If a local society, which an individual belongs to, is in a threat, like in a case of war or revolution, then even if it will be destroyed, other society will occupy its place. So maybe it would be reasonable, from the selfish point of view, to wait the end of a fight and then try to satisfy the selfish interests in a society of winners? And what if it will be impossible? Maybe it will be reasonable to emigrate? If the result of fight does not fully depend on this concrete individual, then we see the same logic of the indivisibly-personal loss and public divided achievement here. Risking the life for the victory of the society, an individual risks far more, than he can personally get from this risk. Success of fight depends on millions of such as he, and a miserable part of it depends on his personal heroic actions, when at the same time a risk of safety of life and health is fully his personal risk. Thus, an egoist will avoid a risk by all possible methods, trying to shift a risk onto other people. If all other will behave similarly, then a society is doomed to the defeat. But it does not change selfish expediency of such behavior : in fact the behavior of other people almost does not depend on the behavior of concrete person. However if the humanity will follow these selfish reasoning, it will be destroyed. It means, that if all members of society follow only selfish motives, a public compulsion executes not a task of defence of society from separate rebels, but a task of creation and maintenance of society, limitation of personal egoism and sending it on public needs, prevention of natural belligerency of all against all. However, in my opinion, it is impossible to do this task only by compulsion. If all people would suddenly begin to follow only selfish motives, replacing a conscience to satisfaction of own interests, not paying attention to different sentimental and idealistic motives such as sympathy, love, call of duty and others like that, then such a society would not remain even a few days. Literature 1. Великий тлумачний словник сучасної української мови / Укл. і голов. ред. В.Т. Бусел. К.; Ірпінь: ВТФ Перун, с. 2. Ayn Rand The Virtue of Selfishness: a New Concept of Egoism. New American Library, р. 3. Платон. Законы // Платон. Государство. Законы. Политик. М.: Мысль, с. с Окун А. Рівність та ефективність: великий компроміс. К.: Інститут демократії імені Пилипа Орлика, с. - с

7 5. Новий словник іншомовних слів / О. М. Сліпушко слів. К.: Аконіт, с. 6. Киршнер Дж. Искусство быть эгоистом; пер. с нем. С. Бернард. СПб.: Питер, с. 7. Покрасс М. Л. Активная депрессия. Исцеление эгоизмом. Самара: Изд. дом «Бахрах-М», с. 8. Шоул Дж. Реальные полномочия: самостоятельность сотрудников как ключ к успеху; пер. с англ. И. Евстигнеева. М.: Альпина Паблишера, с. 9. Франкл В. Человек в поисках смысла. М.: Прогресс, с. Taxation Department kv. Molodezhnij, 20a Luhansk, Ukraine, Анна Лихоносова Восточноукраинский национальный университет имени Владимира Даля Кафедра налогообложения Кв. Молодёжный, 20-А г. Луганск, Украина, lihonosova_anna@mail.ru Ganna Likhonosova Volodymyr Dahl East Ukrainian national university 81