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From: mms1646@acf4.UUCP (Michael M. Sykora)
Newsgroups: net.politics.theory
Subject: Re: What is "capitalism"? (Explorations of "self-interest")
Message-ID: <2380027@acf4.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 8-Jun-85 13:17:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: acf4.2380027
Posted: Sat Jun  8 13:17:00 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 10-Jun-85 21:51:15 EDT
References: <298@spar.UUCP>
Organization: New York University
Lines: 52

>/* baba@spar.UUCP (Baba ROM DOS) /  4:28 pm  Jun  7, 1985 */

>You weren't talking about what people *want*.  You were talking about
>what is "best" for people.  I, for one, recognize a distinction between
>the two in human affairs.

They are not different.  X may have a set of goals, Z, that X wants to achieve
and a certain value X places on the achievement of each of the goals in Z.
X will achieve some subset of these goals.  X would like to achieve that subset
of goals, Y, such that the sum of the values of the goals in Y is maximal over
all possible subsets of Z.  Note that there may be certain goals in Z that
cannot possibly be in the same subset.  The achievement of Y is clearly
what X wants, though he/she may not be aware of it.  This is also what is best
for X.

>It is indeed arrogant to say "I know what's best for you".  It is also
>arrogant to say "I know what's best for me".

Why arrogant?  You are not arrogating anything that is not already yours!
If you are wrong, you bear the cost of the mistake.

>If you acknowledge that a
>young child does not understand his self-interest, where do you draw the
>line?  At 8 years of age?  At 14?  At 21?

As you mentioned, we live in a less than perfect world.  For purposes of
legality it is necessary that we draw the line somewhere.  I can't say I
know exactly where to draw it, but the age of 18 at most seems reasonable.
That doesn't mean that I think that everyone knows what's best for him/herself
at this age, but that we cannot rely on anyone else to know this.  In addition,
if we rely on others to tell us what is best for us, we will never learn to
know it ourselves.

>The fact of the matter is that
>everyone has an incomplete understanding of their own self-interest.

Of course.  Otherwise life would be incredibly simple pschologically.
But if I have an incomplete understanding of myself, how much more so
everyone else.

>And
>sometimes other people really do know better than we what our self-interest
>is in various particulars (doctors, lawyers, accountants, coaches, guides, 
>etc.).

Those you cited are technicians.  You tell them what you want, and they tell
you how to achieve it.  They don't (or shouldn't) presume to know better
than you what your goals are in life.  How could they know??

>						Baba

				Mike