What do we mean by true self?

In this posting I want to examine what we mean by true self, indeed even wether the concept is a meaningful one. Buddhists and David Hume would suggest that true self is an illusion. Perhaps anti-vaxxers suggest otherwise? Their decisions seem to be based on the need to identify as a certain sort of person rather than the facts In an interesting piece posted in peasoup Joshua Knobe wonders whether the notion of a 'true self' really is best cashed out in terms of certain distinctive features of an agent's psychology. He suggests that our notion of a true self is a value-laden one and that we partly determine what lies within an agent's true self by making value-judgments of our own. In this posting I will firstly wonder whether the idea of a true self is even a meaningful one. I will conclude it is. This conclusion will open up the idea of a true self that can be cashed out in certain distinctive features of an agent's psychology. I will suggest these distinctive features are the agent’s pride and shame.

Let us examine Knobe’s position. Knobe asks us to consider someone,

“who is addicted to heroin but who desperately wants to kick the habit. He has a craving for another hit, but when he reflects, he rejects this craving and wishes he could get rid of it. Now ask yourself: Which part of this person constitutes his true self -- his craving for another hit or his desire to quit?”

Knobe suggests that intuitively we would link his true self with his desire to quit. He then asks us to consider an evangelical Christian called Mark

“He believes that homosexuality is morally wrong. In fact, Mark now leads a seminar in which he coaches homosexuals about techniques they can use to resist their attraction to people of the same-sex. However, Mark himself is attracted to other men. He openly acknowledges this to other people and discusses it as part of his own personal struggle.”

Knobe suggests in this case our intuitions are not so clear. Perhaps if someone is a born again Christian his intuitions would link Mark’s true self to his belief that homosexuality is wrong. Whilst someone of a more liberal nature would link Mark’s true self to his underlying sexual desires. The above leads Knobe to suggest that our idea of someone else’s true self is dependent on our values.

My first reaction to Knobe’s suggestion is to question whether such a concept of a true self is a useful one. Perhaps we should simply say we have a self and leave David Hume would suggest  that the whole idea of a self is an illusion. I would not go as far as that because everyone is different. Moreover everyone remains different even when we disregard their physical attributes. People are different because they have differing dispositions, abilities and personalities. If we define someone’s self by a set of non physical attributes such as, his dispositions, abilities and personality then he has a self. Let us accept that someone’s self is a meaningful concept, but is the idea of someone’s will meaningful? Many experiments have demonstrated that our decisions are partly determined by the situations we find ourselves in. For instance in a classic experiment Alice Isen and Paula Levin showed being made to feel good greatly influenced someone’s subsequent actions. In this experiment Isen and Levin showed that someone who dropped papers outside a phone booth was much more likely to be helped to pick them up if the person in the booth had just found a dime in the slot (1). Such experiments do not show we don’t have a will. However in the light of them someone might suggest our will is irrelevant when it comes to decision making. In response I would simply point out that not everyone makes the same decision in the same situation and that this difference in decision making is best explained by our differing dispositions, abilities and personalities, our self. The way in which our decisions are affected by our self is our will. I accept of course that many of the decisions, we think we consciously make, are made unconsciously and that sometimes our consciousness merely endorses these decisions. It follows that in many ways our will is not always under our conscious control. Let us accept our self and our will are as defined above.

 If we accept it makes sense to talk about someone’s self and his will does it also make sense to talk of his true self? I accept the idea of someone’s self can be cashed out in certain distinctive features of his psychology but are there any additional distinctive features of his psychology that mark out his true self? My initial reaction was that there are not. However on reflection it seems to me there might be. What then could be the distinctive features of someone’s psychology that mark out his true self? In what follows I will argue those distinctive features are his pride and shame. Prior to making my argument I must make it clear what I mean by pride and shame.

I will deal with shame first. David Velleman suggests shame is anxiety about social exclusion (2). I have argued that there are two types of shame . Type one is as suggested by Velleman. Type two shame is someone’s anxiety about harming the things he loves or values. I would further suggest that, with the exception of sociopaths, all people feel type two shame. When considering shame with regard to someone’s true self I am only interested in type two shame. Let us now consider pride. Pride might be very roughly defined as someone’s pleasure or satisfaction with his belief that he possesses some property which he values. Unlike shame I believe there is only one sort of pride. However there are deficient forms of pride as shown by Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, see damaging self love pride and shame. Firstly pride may be empty when someone’s pride is focussed on himself, rather than some of the attributes he possesses or values he holds. Secondly pride may be exclusive when a proud person is incapable of feeling any shame. I would class such forms of pride as deficient pride and when considering someone’s true self I only interested in non- deficient pride.

  will now suggest our true self is defined by a subset of our actions, those actions that cause us to feel pride or shame. It is sometimes suggested that someone’s true self is defined by the beliefs and values which he reflectively endorses. I accept someone’s true self is connected to his beliefs and values. However I do not believe someone’s beliefs and values are simply defined by his endorsement following some reflection. Someone might believe he will act in a certain way but when the time for action comes finds he cannot do so in that way. What he thought he believed or valued doesn’t give him reason to act. I would suggest that someone the beliefs and values which define his true self are determined by what he feels proud or ashamed of. Indeed someone might not be fully aware of his beliefs and values and can come to a better understanding of himself not by reflection, but by those of his actions of which he is proud or ashamed of. If the above is accepted then others can also make sense of his true self by those of his actions which he is proud or ashamed of. Additionally I would suggest that actions which make someone proud are actions he can defend even if sometimes his defence can sometimes only be mounted retrospectively. Similarly someone must be able to give some reason for his shame. An objector at this point might object that a retrospective defence is simply a justification. I will not pursue his point here.

 Let us return to Knobe’s two examples using the above definition. In the case of the heroin addict our intuitive ideas of someone’s true self and his true self coincide. Let us now consider Mark. Let us assume that even though Mark openly acknowledges he is attracted to other men, to other people and discusses it as part of his own personal struggle, he feels some shame about this fact. Let us also assume that Mark feels some pride about his coaching homosexuals in techniques they can use to resist their homosexual inclinations. Knobe suggests our intuitions about Mark’s true self depend upon whether we believe homosexuality is acceptable or not. I would suggest provided, we know what Mark is proud or ashamed of in his thoughts and actions concerning homosexuality, our intuitions about Mark’s true self do not depend on our beliefs about homosexuality. In order to see this let us consider someone who believes homosexuality is acceptable. Let us assume he accepts that Mark is ashamed about his feelings for other men and that he can account for his shame by referring to his beliefs and values. Let us further assume he also accepts that Mark is proud he coaches homosexuals in order to change their sexual inclinations and that he can defend this coaching by referring to his beliefs and values. I would suggest that such a person would find it difficult not to associate Mark’s true self with coaching of homosexuals rather than his desire for other men irrespective the person’s own values. It should also be possible to set up an experiment to test the validity of my suggestion.

I have argued the idea of someone’s true self is a meaningful concept. However not all meaningful concepts are useful ones. I will now use a real life example to tentatively suggest that someone’s true self might be a useful concept. I will use the example of MB, see General Medical Concuil's consent guidelines . MB was twenty-three years old and was thirty-three weeks pregnant. She visited her local health clinic twice and on each occasion was asked for a sample of blood. On both occasions she refused consent saying she was frightened of needles. At a later visit to the health clinic it was suspected that her baby was in a breech position and this was later confirmed by ultrasound.  Breech position carries the risk of prolapse. If prolapse occurs there is a risk that the baby’s umbilical cord might get entangled in the membranes after they have ruptured causing the baby’s blood supply to be obstructed during birth. This obstruction might cause death or brain damage to the baby due to lack of oxygen. The above was explained to MB and she was admitted to hospital where she consented to a caesarean section but she again refused to consent to a venepuncture to provide blood samples. However, when she was taken to operating theatre and the anaesthetist wished to insert a veneflon, MB refused consent and was returned to the ward. Later, when her GP visited her, she again consented to the caesarean section. However she again refused consent when taken to operating theatre. The Hospital trust applied to the courts and MB was found to be of unsound mind due to her ambivalence caused by her needle phobia and hence her refusal of consent was incompetent. In cases of ambivalence such as that of MB it makes sense to ask which decision represents the patient’s true self. If a patient can coherently defend his decision based on his beliefs and values then provided he has a true self his decision should be accepted. If however his ambivalence extends to his beliefs and values and these conflict it might be questioned if he really has a true self. In the case of MB her refusal of consent to a venepuncture was not a decision she could defend, it was not a decision that reflected her true self and as such was not a competent decision.

1. Alice Isen, Paula Levin, 1972, Effect of feeling good on helping: Cookies and kindness, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 21(3), Mar, 384-388.
2. David Velleman, 2009, How We Get Along, Cambridge University Press, page 95.

Prisoners serving Life Sentences and Voluntary Euthanasia

In previous postings I have suggested that prisoners serving life sentences have a right to be assisted to commit suicide, see Prisoners serving Life Sentences. In this posting I will argue that this right should only apply to assisted suicide and should not extend to euthanasia. Before commencing my argument I will make some definitions I will use clear. Euthanasia means someone deliberately ends another’s life to end his suffering. Involuntary euthanasia means this is done when he does not consent. Non voluntary euthanasia means this is done when he is incapable of giving consent. Voluntary euthanasia means this is done with his consent. Assisted suicide means someone deliberately provides the means for another to end his own life. I will assume without any further argument that involuntary and non voluntary euthanasia are inapplicable to prisoners serving life sentences. In what follows I argue voluntary euthanasia should also be inapplicable to such prisoners.

Let us consider a prisoner serving a life sentence for some gruesome murder of an innocent person. Let us further assume this prisoner decides he wants to die. Why if he fully consents shouldn’t someone end his life? One reason might be that, unless the prisoner was suffering, doing so would not be a case of voluntary euthanasia. Moreover, unless the prisoner was suffering, it is not clear what would be the motive of whoever carried out the act. The motive could not be one of punishment for punishment should not depend on the wishes of the prisoner. However let us now assume our hypothetical prisoner is suffering. Why in these circumstances, provided the prisoner fully consents, shouldn’t someone end his life? One reason might be that the prisoner’s suffering could and should be relieved by other means. If his suffering is caused by poor penal conditions then these should be addressed. Voluntary euthanasia should never be used to tackle poor penal conditions; even if it tackles overcrowding! Let us now further assume that the prisoner’s suffering is not caused by poor penal conditions. Perhaps his suffering is caused by mental health problems. If a prisoner suffers from a physical illness such as diabetes then his suffering should be addressed by medical means. Similarly I would argue if a prisoner suffers from mental problems his suffering should be addressed by mental health experts. Voluntary euthanasia should not be used to address mental health problems. Lastly let us consider a scenario in which the prisoner’s suffering is not caused by penal conditions or any mental health problems. Perhaps he simply does not want to spend the rest of his days in prison or more unlikely perhaps he suffers from remorse because of the terrible crimes he committed. Surely if assisted suicide is permissible in such circumstances then so should voluntary euthanasia? I will now argue that voluntary euthanasia should also remain inapplicable even in these circumstances.

In my previous postings I have argued that a prisoner should retain some limited autonomy. Part of that limited autonomy is the right to commit suicide. As the state deprives a prisoner of the means to commit suicide it should provide him with these means in a controlled environment. The prisoner’s right to be assisted to commit suicide depends on his ability to make an autonomous decision. At this point an objector might point out voluntary euthanasia also involves an autonomous decision. She might proceed to argue, if I use a prisoner’s retention of limited autonomy to justify assisted suicide that, the same justification could apply to voluntary euthanasia.

I have two responses to my objector’s argument. Firstly I would suggest we have no need to kill someone provided he can be assisted to commit suicide. My objector might respond by suggesting that there is no real moral difference between killing and assisting someone to die. This is simply a variation of the acts and omissions problem and I will not deal with his suggestion here. My second response carries more weight. I would suggest we can never be completely certain whether someone’s decision is an autonomous one or not. I will then argue we can be more certain that someone has made an autonomous decision to commit suicide than when he gives informed consent to voluntary euthanasia. I will base my argument on the importance of what we care about when making autonomous decisions, see (1). Frankfurt argues autonomous decisions are decisions the agent cares about. I have suggested that autonomous decisions are decisions which are not discordant with what the agent cares about, see autonomous decisions . However I would agree with Frankfurt by suggesting an agent’s actions are better indicators of his autonomous decisions than the choices he makes or what he decides to do. The choices he makes and what he decides to do are only intentions. Sometimes when we come to act we find we cannot carry out our prior intentions because it was not clear to us what we really care about until we came to act. A prisoner giving informed consent to voluntary euthanasia is making a choice and deciding what would be best for him. His intentions are of course an indicator of an autonomous decision. However in the light of the above a prisoner’s actions in committing assisted suicide are a much better indicator of his autonomous decision.

1. Harry Frankfurt, 1988, The Importance of What We Care About. Cambridge University Press, page 84.

Is Toleration an Outdated Virtue?

It is sometimes argued that toleration is an outdated or incoherent virtue. One reason for given for this is John Horton’s example of a tolerant racist (1). In this posting I will argue his example does not give us any reason why we should not treat toleration as a virtue. In order to make my argument I must make clear what is meant by toleration and outline what is meant by a tolerant racist.

To be tolerant means someone accepting something he believes is bad or wrong and which she has the power to change. Toleration then has three elements. An example of a tolerant racist might be someone who accepts everyone has equal employment rights whilst believing certain racial groups should not have these rights, perhaps because he believes members of these groups are lazy, and has the power to deny members of these groups these rights in some limited circumstances. Such a person could be regarded as a tolerant racist. According to Magali Bessone if we accept the standard definition of toleration, outlined above, then “the more strongly racist a person is, the more virtuous he appears to be” (2). In essence the above means the stronger someone’s racist belief that these groups should not possess these rights then provided he does not act on these beliefs the more tolerant he appears to be. I will now argue this appearance is false because the example of the tolerant racist conflates the moral worth of tolerance with the amount of effort it takes someone to be tolerant.

At this point I want to introduce another example which I will call the reluctant truth teller. Let us assume someone finds it hard to tell the truth. He likes to embellish stories and exaggerate his exploits. Nonetheless this person forces himself to be truthful. Let us compare the reluctant truth teller with someone who finds it natural to be truthful. If we accept the logic of the tolerant racist then it would appear that the reluctant truth teller is morally more virtuous than the person who finds truth telling natural. I could proceed to construct an example of a reluctant just man and this would lead to an identical appearance. In general I would argue accepting the tolerant racist argument means accepting that in general someone who reluctantly accepts some virtue is morally more virtuous than someone who finds being virtuous in the same way natural. I would further argue accepting the tolerant racist argument means accepting the value of someone’s moral virtue depends on the amount of effort he has to make to act virtuously for all the virtues.

Why does acting virtuously have moral value? Several reasons might be advanced. It might for instance help society flourish or it might be aimed at some concept of the good. Whatever gives acting virtuously its moral value it does not seem to directly depend on the amount of effort someone makes. Increased effort aimed at evil ends certainly does not diminish the evil intended. I of course accept that extra effort aimed at achieving some virtuous end may make achieving that end easier but I do not accept this extra effort adds moral value to this end. Accepting the latter means accepting that, a racist who continues to tolerate other races, when he has the power to do otherwise, does not become more tolerant if his racism increases.

At this point someone might point out to me that the above argument depends on toleration being seen as a moral virtue. I accept his point. My objector might now suggest that toleration is a personal virtue in much the same way as courage is. He might further suggest if we accept that toleration is a personal virtue that the problems caused by the tolerant racist resurface. I believe toleration is a moral virtue but I am willing to accept that toleration may also be a personal virtue. However I am unwilling to accept even if toleration is regarded as a personal virtue that a racist, who tolerates other races whilst he has the power not to do so, increases his toleration if his racist beliefs increase. Let us accept that a brave or tolerant person usually flourishes better than he would have done had he not possessed these personal virtues. Let us accept that in general the value of a personal virtue is that it helps its possessor flourish better in life. It follows the value of toleration depends only on how tolerant someone is and not on how much effort it took him to be tolerant. In order to see why the above must be true let us consider an example. Let us consider two tolerant people. Let us also assume it is possible to measure tolerance to some degree, if this is not so the ideas connected to the tolerant racist example make no sense. The first tolerant person is extremely tolerant and toleration comes extremely easily to him. The second is only minimally tolerant and it takes him a great effort to achieve this minimal tolerance. If we allow that effort plays some part in the degree of toleration then it might be possible that both these persons possess the same degree of toleration. However it seems inconceivable provided all other things are equal that the person with only minimal toleration will flourish equally as well as the extremely tolerant person. A racist with only minimal toleration of other races will, all other things being equal, not flourish as well as a more tolerant person.

I have argued that toleration is not an outdated or incoherent virtue. I have argued that toleration helps someone flourish. However toleration not only benefits the tolerant person it benefits those tolerated. Helping others to flourish by toleration might help to some small degree to combat fundamentalism and so benefit society.  

1. John Horton, 1996, Toleration as a virtue, in D Heyd (editor), toleration: an elusive virtue, Princeton University Press, pages 28-43.
2. Magali Bessone, 2013, Will the Real Tolerant Racist Please Stand Up, Journal of Applied Philosophy, 30(3).

Gay Marriage 2

It might be suggested that the state has other reasons to promote marriage rather than just that of helping children flourish and I was wrong to concentrate on this sole reason in previous postings when I argued against gay marriage. It might be further suggested what gay couples want equality with heterosexual couples. However equality must be justified equality, for instance children don’t have equality with adults when it comes to voting. Nonetheless it seems reasonable to suggest what gay couples want is equal access to the benefits of marriage.

What then are the benefits of marriage? Firstly married couples offer each other mutual support. Secondly traditional marriage is meant to guarantee sexual exclusiveness. This exclusiveness is often more of an expectation than guarantee is practice. Thirdly marriage gives the partners in the marriage certain property rights and guarantees these rights after the death of one of the partners. Lastly a marriage helps in the rearing of children. It would appear there are four main reasons why people marry. As I have previously suggested only the last reason is a good reason why the state should support traditional marriage, it might appear my objector is justified in claiming my basis for the state supporting traditional marriage is at the best highly selective and at the worst prejudiced towards gay couples.

At this point I must make clear my previous position. I argued the state should recognise traditional marriage only because it helps children to flourish. I did not argue the state should recognise traditional marriage because of the additional benefits outlined above. Someone might raise two objections to the above. Firstly she might suggest that state should recognise traditional marriage because of these additional benefits. Secondly she might point out even if the purpose of the state in recognising traditional marriage is only to help children to flourish that a consequence of this recognition is that these benefits become available to married couples. She might then proceed to argue if the state prohibits gay couples from marrying these benefits are made unavailable to gay couples and as a result is guilty of unfair discrimination.

In response to my objector I would suggest the first two benefits of marriage as outlined above are questionable. Firstly is the mutual support a couple offers each other really enhanced because they are married? I would argue the best form of mutual support depends on love. Not however some form of sentimental love in which the lover’s interests continue to take precedence over those of her beloved. Mutual support requires someone taking the interests of her partner as her own. The form of love I’m concerned with as always in this blog is ‘caring about’. Frankfurt defines this form of love as follows,

“It is in the nature of a lover’s concern that he is invested in his beloved. That is, he is benefited when his beloved flourishes; and he suffers when it is harmed. Another way of putting it is that the lover identifies himself with what he loves. This consists of accepting the interests of his beloved as his own.” (1)

In addition I would agree with Frankfurt such love is not something we choose (2). We cannot simply choose to love someone. It follows if a couple simply choose to get married this does not automatically give them the best form of mutual support. It may of course in time lead to such support. It further follows if a couple choose to get married because they love each other they do not obtain the benefits of the best form of mutual support because they marry, they already possess this form. At this point my objector might point out there are less than ideal forms of mutual support. Forms based on self-interest. For instance in a traditional marriage a wife may support her husband in his job because it is in her interests to do so, his job supports her also. And a husband may support his wife’s staying at home looking after their children as it’s in his interests, she’s supporting his children. In response I would point out such mutual support depends on self-interest irrespective of whether the couple are married or not. In the light of the above it would appear mutual support depends on love or self-interest and that mutual support is not enhanced by marriage. I am also doubtful as to whether sexual exclusivity is a benefit of marriage. Perhaps marriage enhances sexual exclusivity but the divorce courts show it certainly doesn’t guarantee it. I will not pursue this point further.

The third benefit marriage is supposed to give its partners are certain property rights and guarantees of these rights after the death of one of the partners. These are real benefits and if gay couples are denied these benefits they are discriminated against. However in the UK and many other countries all these rights are made available by civil partnerships because the financial provisions in these mirror those in marriage. It follows the state if it prohibits gay marriage it does not deny gay couples any property rights or the guarantee of these rights after the death of one of the partners

I accept that married couples offer each other mutual support. But I have argued this mutual support is due to love or self-interest. It is not due to the fact they are married and as a result mutual support is not a benefit of marriage. I am also highly doubtful as to whether sexual exclusivity is a benefit of marriage. Marriage does give married couples some financial benefits but these benefits are available to gay couples through civil unions in countries in which these unions are available. It follows if the state prohibits gay marriage then in countries which permit civil unions the state does not deny gay couples equal access to the benefits of marriage by this prohibition. In my previous posting I argued that provided gay marriage does not harm children the state has no reason to prohibit gay marriage. In this posting I have examined whether, based on the first three benefits of marriage outlined above, the state has reasons to promote gay marriage. I have questioned whether these benefits in fact exist. It follows the state has no reasons to promote marriage based on the interests of married couples, gay or heterosexual.

I have argued that the only reason the state has to support marriage is the welfare of children. I have suggested that because the roles of husband and wife are now interchangeable the state has no reason to prohibit gay marriage, provided of course this does not harm children’s welfare. In some countries it is now possible for gay couples to adopt children, see list. It is also possible for a gay couple to have a child, by means of donor insemination or surrogacy involving IVF, which is genetically related to one of the partners. It follows if the state has reason to encourage traditional marriage because this helps children flourish it also has reason to support gay marriage. This reason can still be justified even if only a small number of gay couples wish to have children. At this point my objector might point out even if the roles of husband and wife are interchangeable the roles of mother and father are not, see for instance Virginia Ironsides. She might then suggest that because of this the children of gay couples do not flourish as well as those of heterosexual couples and as a result the state should not recognise gay marriage if this encourages gay couples to have children.

Basically my objector is arguing that because the children of gay couples do not flourish as well as the children of heterosexual couples that gay couples should not have children. She might suggest this is because gay relationships are unnatural relationships not suited to the rearing of children or the children of gay couples might be bullied at school. In response I would point out there it appears there is no evidence that the children of gay couples do not flourish as well as those of heterosexual couples. Indeed there is some evidence that when they are young they flourish just as well as the children of heterosexual couples and perhaps even better, see Goldberg and Smith. Moreover even if the children of gay couples do not flourish as well as those of heterosexual couples this does not imply gay couples should not have children. Children in deprived areas may well not flourish as well children born into more affluent areas but no one seriously suggests that people in deprived areas should not have children. It seems inevitable to me that some gay couples will have children. Let us assume that the children of both heterosexual and gay couples who stay together flourish better than the children of couples who split up. Let us also assume marriage helps couples who stay together. Lastly let us assume the state has a duty to help children flourish. It follows from the above the state should promote gay marriage even if the number of gay couples with children is low. I accept the above conclusion and as a result have changed my mind about the desirability of gay marriage.

1. Harry Frankfurt, 2006,Taking Ourselves Seriously, Stanford University Press, page 41.
2. Frankfurt, 1999, Necessity, Volition, and Love, Cambridge University Press. Page 135.

Gay Marriage

Someone remarked to me the other day that her daughter would make someone a good wife. Her remark caused me to wonder about the roles of husband and wife in society nowadays. In the past a husband and a wife had a specific role in marriage. I’m not sure these specific roles still exist and if they do perhaps they have become interchangeable. In the past I have defended traditional marriage which prohibits same sex unions but if these roles no longer exist or are now interchangeable then perhaps I should reconsider my position.

Let us assume that marriage has evolved so that the role of husband and wife are to some degree interchangeable. I am perfectly happy to accept such a change. This evolution means a woman can play the role of husband and a man the role of wife. It follows two women can play the roles of husband and wife in a marriage and the same applies to two men. It might then be argued if the state recognises marriage between a man and a woman it should also recognise a marriage between two partners of the same sex and that my defence of traditional marriage was wrong. Perhaps even my defence was due some unconscious prejudice on my part

At this point I must make exactly clear what position I have previously defended. Let us accept that until recently in western world it has been accepted that marriage was the union of one man and one woman. I did not defend the states right to define what marriage means. I accepted that the state has no business in semantics or else we might end up in a state akin to that in George Orwell’s 1984. Nonetheless I did defend the state’s right to encourage and offer support to traditional marriages. My argument went as follows. The state supports children’s education because this helps them flourish and become good citizens. I then argued by analogy if a marriage helps the children of the marriage flourish and hence become good citizens that the state should support marriage. I pointed to evidence that the children of married couples flourish better than those of unmarried couples, see for instance Married and unmarried family breakdown .  I concluded that the state should support traditional marriage.

However even if my argument is accepted it doesn’t mean the state shouldn’t recognise gay marriage. Gay couples don’t want to radically change marriage or destroy traditional marriage they simply want it to become more inclusive. I accept my argument above doesn’t automatically preclude this possibility. Provided of course this inclusion doesn’t harm the relationship between heterosexual married couples with children. Prima facie it would appear there is no moral reason why the state should exclude gay couples from marrying. Nonetheless the above provides no reason why the state should do so. Someone might object that the state should do so for reasons of equality. If it did so straight couples will no longer be able to claim moral superiority over gay couples. In reply I would of course accept that straight couples have no moral superiority over gay couples. Nonetheless my reason why the state should recognise traditional marriage had nothing to do with equality or discrimination it was simply concerned with helping children to flourish. My objector may now question why infertile heterosexual couples should be able to enter into a traditional marriage and gay couples shouldn’t. In reply I would argue the state has no moral reason to promote the marriage of infertile heterosexual couples. It may of course do so for purely pragmatic reasons simply because it is hard to differentiate between couples who don’t want or can’t have children and those who do.

In the light of the above I was perhaps wrong to argue the state should prohibit same sex marriage. However this is not the same as saying the state should support same sex marriage. A government might of course do so purely to project itself as both caring and modern. But these reasons are based purely on the government’s interests and not on the interests of gay people. In my next posting I will consider whether the state has other reasons to justify it supporting gay marriage.

Pornography and the Corrosion of Character

David Cameron the British Prime Minister has declared war on pornography, see telegraph . He believes pornography corrodes childhood. He therefore proposes that every internet user in the UK will be asked whether they wish to receive pornography and that the default position will be they do not. In this posting I will not consider the effectiveness of his proposal or consider it’s implications on our freedom. I agree pornography corrodes but would argue this corrosion is not limited to children. In this posting I will argue that pornography might damage someone’s sense of personhood, that it might mean he is a deficient sort of person and that it always corrodes character.

In a thoughtful piece in the Independent Archie Bland says he is pretty confident that he is able to keep fantasy and reality distinct. I now want to examine this split. Of course we must be able to split fantasy from reality or else we would go round in a dream state. Moreover there is nothing wrong with some fantasies. There is nothing wrong with someone fantasying about what he would do if he won the lottery provided of course such a fantasy did not come to dominate his life. I will now argue not all fantasies are the same. Fantasies such as becoming rich need not harm others even if they became true. In such cases if the split between fantasy and reality becomes blurred or ceases no harm is done. The split between fantasy and reality is not essential. This is not true of much of pornography. In what follows for the sake of simplicity I will assume that men are the main users of pornography unless stated otherwise, whilst being aware some women may also use pornography. I will also assume women are the objects of pornography unless stated otherwise, whilst again being aware that many other forms exist. Much of pornography portrays women as being dominated or harmed. These forms of pornography would be harmful if the fantasies involved became true. I will accept some forms of pornography in which women or others are not dominated or harmed may not be harmful to third parties. In the rest of this piece pornography will refer to pornography which involves fantasies which imagine dominating or harming others unless stated otherwise. It follows for these forms of pornography any blurring of the split between fantasy and reality might be harmful to others. In this context the maintenance of the split between fantasy and reality is absolutely essential. The maintenance between fantasy and reality may also be essential in another context. There now an increasing use of sexbots. Sex with a robot is a kind of fantasy. If this fantasy involves domination and harm then once again any blurring of the split between this fantasy and reality might be harmful to others.

Bland is confident that he is able to keep fantasy and reality distinct but this might not be true for all men. It appears to follow the use of pornography is dangerous and a case can be made for the state attempting to control pornography in order to limit this danger. Of course it might be argued the state should not do so as any such attempt would limit personal freedom. I will not pursue this argument here as I am mainly concerned with the type of harm pornography causes. It might be objected at this point that men who are already likely to harm women use pornography, rather than pornography causes some men to become more likely to harm women. Personally I am extremely doubtful about my objector’s point. Nonetheless I must accept that whether pornography causes harm to women or men who use pornography harm women is an empirical question which can only be settled by good evidence and not by philosophy. However even if my objector is right I still believe splitting fantasy and reality is damaging to the user of pornography.

I suggest the use of pornography by a man damages his relationships with women in general. Firstly the use of pornography may limit his real engagement with women. Perhaps more importantly someone, who may be able to maintain the split between fantasy and reality so he will not harm women, will nonetheless find that this split taints his engagement with women. He sees women both as objects that may be used as he wills and creatures who are essentially the same as himself and limit his will. At this point my objector might suggest there is a distinction between fantasy women who may be used and real women who limit a man’s will and it is possible for someone to completely separate the two in his mind. If this is so my objector might conclude we have no reason to believe a man’s use of pornography will taint his engagement with real women. In theory my objector may be correct but as above I remain extremely doubtful. Moreover in this case there seems to be some evidence to support my doubts. If the separation between fantasy women and real women is complete then there is no reason why a man who uses such pornography should keep it secret. If his partner asks him if he uses such material he has no reason to lie. I would argue he has two reasons to lie. Firstly let assume he is truthful. If he is truthful it seems probable his relationship with his partner will be damaged. His partner is unlikely to believe he can maintain the separation between fantasy and real women in his mind and as a result sees him as someone who sees her as someone who can be used. Secondly the man involved will not be truthful because he feels ashamed. But why should he be ashamed if the separation between fantasy women and real women is complete? I have previously argued there are two types of shame . One type of shame is anxiety about social disqualification as suggested by Velleman, see (1). Another type of shame is someone’s anxiety about harming the things he cares about or loves. Because pornography is regarded socially as reprehensible it follows a user of pornography may fear social disqualification even if he is able to maintain the split between fantasy and reality. He might also feel shame because deep down he feels this separation is incomplete.

At this point my objector might point out not all pornography is used by heterosexual men, homosexuals also use pornography. Moreover some homosexual pornography portrays others as being used and harmed. He might question whether lesbian pornography portraying women being used and harmed damages the relationships of women who use it with other women. If it does not he might then ask why only pornography used by men which portrays women being used or harmed damages the user’s relationships with women? At the present time I cannot provide a satisfying answer my objector’s question, perhaps someone else can. I would now simply suggest that the use of pornography damages the user’s relationships with others because he/she is likely to lie about his/her use for the reasons outlined above.

I now want to argue the use of pornography damages the user even if it doesn’t damage his relationship with others. A common theme in my postings is that someone’s identity is defined by what he cares about. As always in my postings to ‘care about’ means someone identifies with what he cares about and makes himself vulnerable to losses and susceptible to benefits depending upon whether what he cares about is diminished or enhanced. Frankfurt argues that caring about oneself is essential to being a person and that someone who doesn’t care about himself can’t really be considered as a person

.

“Perhaps nothing that is entirely indifferent to itself is really a person, regardless of how intelligent or emotional or in other respects similar to persons it may be. There could not be a person of no importance to himself.” (2).

Let us accept someone’s identity is defined by what he cares about. Frankfurt goes on to argue that ambivalence is a disease of the will,

“the health of the will is to be unified and in this sense wholehearted. A person is volitionally robust when he is wholehearted in his higher order attitudes and inclinations, in his preferences and decisions, and in other movements of the will.” (3).

Now pornography forces someone to maintain a split between fantasy and reality. If someone uses pornography this split threatens the unity of his will and is damaging to his identity. I would further suggest a user of sexbot risks damaging his identity for the same reason.

My objector might raise two objections to the above. Firstly he might argue a user of pornography might not really care about pornography and as a result its use plays no part in forming his identity. It just a something he has a taste for much the same as ice cream. In my last posting I suggested that an autonomous decision need not be one an agent cares about but any decision he makes which is not discordant with what he cares about. I further suggested if someone continually buys ice cream that his liking for ice cream plays a part, albeit a small part, in the creation of his identity. So in reply to my objector I would suggest if someone continually uses pornography this use forms part of his identity to some degree. Secondly my objector might accept that a user of pornography cares about its use but argue this use does not damage his identity. He might point out we all compartmentalise our lives and the user of pornography may put his usage into a safe compartment. He might point out Frankfurt believes that the formation of someone’s will is most fundamentally a matter of his coming to care about certain things, and of his coming to care about some of them more than others (4). He might then argue if someone is able to order the things he cares about by how much he cares about them that his use of pornography need not harm his identity. At this point I must accept that the use of pornography may, at least in theory, not damage the user’s identity as a person provided he is able to fully order the things he cares about. However I believe this would be hard to achieve in practice and for this reason the use of pornography remains dangerous to someone’s identity.

Let us accept that for someone to be a person of any sort he must care about something. But according to Helm such an account of a person is incomplete and for someone to be a person he must have some values (5). I would argue this means he must care about what he cares about. According to Helm such meta-caring about must involve feelings of pride and shame. I believe the simple ability to care about is all that is necessary for someone to be a person. Nonetheless I believe that most people do care what they care about. They care not just about being a person but being a good person and this caring does involve feelings of pride and shame. Let us accept without argument that it is better to be a good person than simply a person who cares about things but has no pride or shame in what he cares about. It follows someone who doesn’t care about what he cares about is in some way a deficient person.

Let us accept that someone who doesn’t care about what he cares about is in a deficient kind of person. Let us also return to pornography which portrays women as being used or harmed and consider a man who uses such pornography. Let us assume this man cares what he cares about. It seems to me such a man must wish he didn’t care about pornography. Because by using pornography he is caring about using and harming others. Anyone who cares about what he cares about must have some conception of the good. He must also care about the good. I would suggest any conception of the good must exclude using or harming others for no benefit. I would further suggest this exclusion must include imaginary harm. It follows such a man is likely to feel shame at his use of pornography. This is not the type of shame as anxiety about social disqualification. It is anxiety about harming the things he cares about, in this case his conception of the good. In the light of the above I would suggest that the user of pornography, who cares about what he cares about, sees himself as a deficient person as he fails to be the sort of person he aspires to be. The character he aspires to be is corroded.

1.      David Velleman, 2009, How We Get Along, Cambridge University Press, page 95.

2.      Harry Frankfurt, 1999, Necessity, Volition, and Love. Cambridge University Press. Page 90.

3.      Frankfurt, page 100.

4.      Frankfurt, 1988, The importance of what we care about, Cambridge University Press, page 91,

5.      Bennett Helm, 2010, Love, Friendship, & the Self, Oxford University Press, page 128.

More Autonomy

In Melbourne Australia Harry Kakavas lost $20.5 million to a casino. He sued the casino arguing it should have known he was a pathological gambler and as a result not taken his money. He lost his case in the Australian High Court. The Court ruled that Kakavas did not show that he suffered from a disability, special to him, which was exploited by the casino. What sort of disability is relevant in such a case? It would seem in this particular case that Kakavas did not have the ability to make meaningful decisions, decisions which were in his own interests, whilst gambling. Gambling affected his autonomy. The Kakavas case raises questions about the nature and extent of autonomous decisions. In this posting I will examine both of these questions. I addition I will consider when we have a duty to intervene when someone makes a non-autonomous decision; provided of course we have the power to do so as the casino involved with Kakavas did,

Which of the decisions we make are autonomous? It might be thought that these decisions must be important decisions which we make only after careful consideration. A patient giving informed consent might be seen a paradigmatic example of such an autonomous decision. If this is so someone making a decision without appropriate reflection might be said to be making a non-autonomous decision. It might then be argued we can safely ignore her decision because it does not represent her ‘real self’, see Berlin (1). It is not a decision she would have made if he had more adequately reflected on it. I would suggest such an attitude is one of moral arrogance.

I now want to argue almost all of the decisions we make are autonomous. A common theme throughout all my postings is that someone’s autonomy depends on what she ‘cares about’. Caring about in this context means not merely wanting something; it means someone’s identity, her ‘real self’, is dependent on what she cares about. Moreover I have argued in previous postings what someone ‘cares about’ is defined by what she is satisfied with. Satisfaction in this context simply means no resistance to a decision, no restlessness with that decision (2). There is no desire to change the decision. It is important here to be clear satisfaction with a decision does not equate with being happy about a decision. As I have argued before someone with a terminal illness may decide to commit suicide and be completely satisfied with her decision but nonetheless her satisfaction does not imply she is happy about it. Accepting the above means if someone is satisfied with some decision and has no inclination to change her decision that her decision is an autonomous one. I would suggest that people are satisfied, as defined above, with almost all of their decisions. The above leads to the tentative conclusion that almost all of the decisions we make are autonomous.

At this point an objector might be prepared to accept that for a decision to be autonomous it must be based on what we care about. However she might be unwilling to concede that it naturally follows that almost all of our decisions are autonomous. My objector might argue we can only know what we care about after adequate reflection. She might then further argue that because most of our decisions are non-reflective that most of our decisions are non-autonomous. If my objector’s argument is to carry any weight then she must accept one of two options. Firstly someone may make an autonomous decision based on what she cares about and be dissatisfied with her decision. Or secondly she must accept that being satisfied with a decision is a necessary condition for that decision to be an autonomous decision based on what the agent cares about but argue it is not a sufficient condition. Let us examine the first option. An agent can make an autonomous decision and be dissatisfied with it. I accept an agent can make an autonomous decision she’s not happy with, see above, but I can’t accept she can make an autonomous decision she’s not satisfied with. Let us accept satisfaction with a decision does not simply mean the agent has some smug feeling but means she has no resistance to her decision, no restlessness to change it. It follows if an agent is dissatisfied with a decision that she either resists the decision or seeks to change it. She is ambivalent about her decision. I don’t accept that any decision someone is ambivalent about and seeks to change can be an autonomous decision. It follows an agent cannot make an autonomous decision she is dissatisfied with.

Let us consider my objectors second option that being satisfied with a decision is a necessary condition for that decision to be an autonomous one based on what the agent cares about but that it is not a sufficient one. My objector might suggest that for a decision to be an autonomous one not only must the agent be satisfied with it but that she must have reflected on it. This suggestion would mean most decisions we make are non-autonomous. Of course for many of the decisions we make this doesn’t matter. No one is really concerned whether someone’s decision to have an ice cream is an autonomous one or not. However let us consider a family on a summer’s day sitting on the bank of a fast flowing river eating ice cream. Let us assume one of the children falls into the river and without any thought the mother jumps in and saves the child. Was this a non-autonomous decision? I would argue it was an autonomous decision. Indeed the mother might feel hurt if someone suggested afterwards her actions were mindless. She might say she minded very much, she loved her child, and that she couldn’t act any other way, reflection was pointless. The above suggests for a decision to be autonomous all that matters is that the agent cares about it. It suggests that caring about a decision is both a necessary and a sufficient condition for that decision to be autonomous in conditions in which the agent has been neither coerced nor deceived. Of course sometimes an agent may have to reflect on what he cares about but it is caring about rather than reflection that guarantees a decision is autonomous. Indeed it might be argued the fact that an agent feels a need to reflect on a decision make the autonomy of the decision less certain.

My objector might accept that for a decision to be an autonomous one the agent must care about her decision but suggest we don’t really care about many of our decisions. For instance she might point out my decision to buy an ice cream on a sudden whim is not based on what I really care about in the way we have been using the term. We only care about important decisions and only these decisions can be autonomous or non autonomous, mere whims don’t count. I believe this might be the position Frankfurt would adopt, see (3). I however would adopt a slightly different position. I would suggest an autonomous decision need not be one an agent cares about but any decision he makes which is not discordant with what he cares about. If my suggestion is accepted then most of the decisions we make, including my whim to buy ice cream, would be autonomous. At this point my objector might point out my suggestion seems to weaken the connection between autonomy and personal identity. Frankfurt argues our identity is linked to what we care about.

“Caring is important to us for its own sake, insofar as it is the indispensably activity through which provide continuity and coherence to our volitional lives. Regardless of whether its objects are appropriate, our caring about things possesses for us an inherent value by virtue of its essential role in making us the distinctive kind of creatures that we are.” (4).

I agree our identity is connected to what we care about. It might appear that because identity and autonomy are connected that autonomous decisions must be decisions we care about. I believe appearance is unjustified. I have suggested above that autonomous decisions are connected to what we care about, our identity, by being decisions which are not discordant with what we care about, our identity. Of course when making most decisions we don’t reflect about our identity. Nonetheless I would suggest our identity is always present even if only in the background. I would further suggest this presence gives continuity and coherence to our lives. If autonomous decisions are any decisions which are not discordant with what we care about then not all autonomous decisions play an equal part in defining our identity. Indeed some like my decision to have an ice cream may play no part. Nonetheless if I continually buy ice cream I may be said to be someone who likes ice cream and this plays a small part of my identity. In the light of the above it appears an agent caring about her decision is not necessary for her decision to be an autonomous one. Moreover someone’s being satisfied with her decision is both a necessary and sufficient condition for the decision to be an autonomous one in circumstances in which she has not been deceived or coerced.

I have argued that most of the decisions we make are autonomous decisions. In addition I believe we should always accept an autonomous decision even if this decision harms the decision maker provided of course the decision does not harm others. I believe we must give precedence to respecting autonomy over acting beneficently. It seems to me someone’s identity is tied to her autonomy, tied to what she finds appropriate, what satisfies her. If we fail to respect someone’s autonomy we fail to respect her. Let us consider an example. Personally I detest is smoking. Moreover smoking harms smokers. Let us assume I one of my friends is a smoker who on hearing I am going to a shop asks me to buy her some cigarettes. As I am going to the shop anyway I will not be inconvenienced if I buy her cigarettes. Let us also assume she is completely satisfied with her decision, she will not smoke in my presence or that of other non-smoker and that she fully understands the dangers of smoking and is not deceiving herself. Let us further assume I refuse to buy her cigarettes because I believe these will harm her. I am helping her to prevent harming herself by not respecting her autonomous request even though satisfying her request would not inconvenience me. I am giving priority to acting beneficently over respecting her autonomy. I would suggest in this example I am merely paying lip service to respecting her as a person. Perhaps I might console myself that I am respecting her real self, but this real self is really an ideal self created by me. In this example I believe I could justly be accused of some sort of arrogance.

If we accept we should respect autonomy over acting beneficently and most decisions we make are autonomous in the sense used above then we have to accept a large number of decisions which are unwise or even foolhardy. Kakavas’ decision to gamble in the casino was certainly an unwise one but was it also a non-autonomous one? If it was an autonomous one then the casino should respect his decision however unwise it was. In theory it seems there might be completely satisfied gamblers. However in practice most gamblers feel guilty about their gambling and have some resistance to their compulsion to gamble. It follows most gamblers’ decisions to gamble are non-autonomous decisions. It seems probable that Kakavas’ decision to gamble was a non-autonomous one. It follows the casino could not justify, allowing Kakavas to continue gambling, on respect for his autonomy.

In normal life we generally accept peoples’ decisions, even if many of these are not autonomous decisions, provided we have no reason to suspect that these decisions will harm the decision maker. Kakavas’ gambling clearly harmed him. How could a casino possibly justify allowing Kakavas to gamble if his gambling was both non-autonomous and harmed him? One possible justification concerns the nature of the harm involved. Kakavas’ gambling harmed him financially but it might have done only limited harm to his capacity to make autonomous decisions. Kakavas’ capacity to make autonomous decisions was impaired whilst gambling but perhaps it remained unimpaired at other times. He could have made an autonomous decision not to go to the casino in much the same way a recovering alcoholic makes a decision not to go to a bar. The casino might argue even if Kakavas was harmed it was respecting his autonomous decision to go gambling and it was justified in respecting this decision because respecting autonomy should take precedence over acting beneficently. I would accept the above argument. However I would be some what sceptical about a gamblers ability to make a decision she knows will make her feel guilty without any resistance to her decision.