13.5 Enlightened Self-Interest
disk 361 enlight.tex splchckd Arguments of enlightened self-interest are often adduced in favour of acting morally. Honesty is the best policy; you do well to do good. Often the moral sceptic is argued with on the basis of his own self-interest. Often the arguments are not bad. The young man who has liberated himself from the shackles of morality is on the way to losing out generally in life’s race, and a timely word of warning may save him from self-destruction. And yet we feel uncomfortable. Our discomfort is partly logical. We feel that we are being conned into buying morality on spurious grounds. As Elaine Sternbergworksouttheimplicationsofherdefinitionofbusinessasseeking to maximise owner value over the long term by selling goods or services,4 we sense difficulties in the phrase ‘long-term’: not only is it unclear as to when the long term is concluded—Keynes’ adage