Down on the farm...

I too wanted to elaborate on something I brought up in class. Egoism and virtue theory work well together in virtue egoism. The egoist acts according to expressing and developing certain virtues. These virtues make his life objectively better in the long run. They may not bring him immediate benefit; in fact they may bring him immediate misfortune or pain. This was said in class to be an instrumental use of virtue, which in the end does not seem as though it is very virtuous. However, I feel that there is a different, more intuitionally positive way that virtues are instrumentally good.

An egoist’s well-being, according to an objective-list theorist, can be high even if their desires are not met and even if their mental states are not the greatest all of the time. Typically when thinking of egoism we think of an agent who strives to fulfill his desires and to create happy and good mental states. While these things are good, they are not the only goods. Having virtues can be a good as well. Often most things the egoist tries to attain will lead to happiness or joy. But virtues may not actually lead to this. Having certain virtues can be good yet cause you pain or distress. One such virtue is that of helping others. I can give up all of my worldly possessions and live a very hard life in order to help others. I can give them all I have, all the money I earn. This will lead me to a painful life, but in the end it will be a good life because I have exercised and attained this virtue. It is instrumentally good in that in having this virtue one’s life is made good.