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Another Professor Advocates Selflessness
by Glenn Woiceshyn
[A version of the following letter was published in the Globe and Mail (pg. D11)
on Aug/30/97]
Dear Editor, Re: "Distant Morality"--by Martin Levin--Aug/02/97--The Globe
and Mail
Of the thousands of books that cross Martin Levin's desk, he decided to enlighten
us with a review of "Living High and Letting Die: Our Illusion of Innocence,"
by philosophy professor Peter Unger. Unger's main thesis is that it is each individual's
moral duty to sacrifice himself to everyone else on the planet, even animals. To
practice this moral code consistently, one would have to commit suicide because even
the flesh on one's bones is potential food for some starving creature.
Since human beings have no inbuilt, automatic guide to survival and happiness, they
need a code of moral principles. What Professor Unger offers them is a morality of
self-destruction. Rather than treat him as someone aspiring to be a suicide-cult
leader, Mr. Levin treats him as a serious intellectual.
This is not surprising since most people today regard self-interest as evil and self-sacrifice
as good--and thus feel guilty for not achieving moral perfection. It's a perfect
rationalization for political power lusters to rule, loot and murder us. What the
perpetrators of altruism fear is someone asking the unanswerable: Why? Why is it
immoral to live for one's own sake yet moral to sacrifice oneself to others? No rational
answer has ever been given; nor is one possible.
If Mr. Levin truly wants to enlighten us, he should review a book that upholds the
Virtue of Selfishness. If he has trouble finding one, he can contact me.
Sincerely,
Glenn Woiceshyn
© 1997 Glenn Woiceshyn. All rights reserved.
This article can be found on-line at at http://www.capitalism.org/glennw. |
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