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PART 4: "Deep Down, Aren't We All Selfish?"
Contemporary liberal and neoliberal conceptions of the “self” rely
on the assumption that individuals are naturally self-interested.
These neo/liberal traditions explain the social world in
“atomistic” terms by breaking it down into its smallest unit: the
self-interested, self-sufficient behaviours and motivations of
individuals. In this lecture, I contend that the “atomistic”
individual is an impoverished understanding of what it means to be
human. I argue that this social atomism reframes all ethical and
political conduct as inevitably self-interested. Consequently, I claim
that this “naturalisation” of self-interest leads to a
valorisation of competition as a social good. To challenge the above,
I consider the historical origins of this way of understanding the
human through Thomas Hobbes, discuss the relationship between
atomistic individualism and neoliberal capitalism, and gesture towards
possibilities of thinking human existence differently.
philosophy
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26/06/2018 Last update