Ethics

Can self-regarding acts be unethical? I realize some seemingly self-regarding acts could well affect dependents (e.g. an alcoholic parent), so let's assume there are no dependents on the person. Thanks.

Comments

I think most ethical theorists would say that some acts whose effects are only on the agent can be unethical, but it will depend upon what you take "ethical" to consist in--on how you understand what it takes to be ethical.

For example, the ancient Greeks (at least mostly) subscribed to an approach that was eudaimonistic (essentially, aiming at the overall well-being of the agent and those affected by the agent) . By this account, then, anything that one did that was not in one's overall interest (taking addictive drugs, for example, or drinking to excess, or becoming habituated to vices of any kind) would be a case of ethical wrong.

Others (for example, Kant) would claim that goodness consists in treating those acted upon as ends in themselves. Any action that treated the agent herself as a means only, or which did not respect the agent's own autonomy (selling oneself into slavery, for example, or committing suicide) would be a moral wrong.

Consequentialists (for example utilitarians) regard goodness as consisting in maximizing utility and minimizing disutility (of various kinds). Any act in which overall utility was diminished (for example, committing suicide out of mere boredom, rather than putting one's efforts into something productive) would be morally wrong.

These are samples, but perhaps they are sufficient to show that most theorists do think that one can be unethical even if no one else is affected by one's actions.

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