Topics Ethics

Question Hello. I think that I have a personality disorder called the Schizoid Personality disorder. I am actually fairly certain of this. If this is the case, I have a question that pertains to ethics. I am wondering if it is immoral in some sense to cloister oneself from the world and to spend one's time primarily by oneself. I would consider myself of a high intellect with much college behind me and I enjoy intellectual pursuits and the life of the mind very much. Though I currently have some close friends (from high school) and socialize several times a week, I can see a day in which I would like to be mostly alone. I envision a day, after several more years of graduate school, when I could leave America and get lost in Europe and break all ties with former friends, and (as I am a Schizoid) my family--whom I feel nothing for and do not enjoy being around. I am an atheist and a Darwinian and believe this is the only life I am going to get and I would like to, despite what contemporary social standards state, live it on my own terms. I am somewhat an iconoclast. Moreover, I would, for a long period (perhaps from age 30-40) like to move to a place where prostitution is legal; this is because I do not want to be entirely celibate and it would accord me with opportunities for consensual and yet non-intimate relations (I feel unhappy when intimate situations arise) and yet I could be entirely unconnected to others on any substantive level. Essentially, I want to be in the world and yet really in my own world. I sort of hate people. I have misanthropic, cynical feelings. Mostly, though, I am unhappy when around others and labor to "fall" into myself. I think it is generally the way that my brain is configured that makes me not feel any need to be with other people--not that I have felt rejected or cannot participate with others. I am just lacking the mental configuration that would cause me to desire the company of other people. I am not a jerk, if I sound like one; I am just someone who understands that this is the only life I am going to get and who wants to spend it alone and distanced from the world. I do feel at times that the world is extremely overwhelming. I have never wanted kids, and the thought of a spouse always around me (as a Schizoid) seems unbearable. Do you, then, think that this somewhat strange lifestyle would be immoral; do you think it is a character flaw to reject participation in the world? Thanks.

Accepted:
July 22, 2008

Comments

I can think of two general ways in which someone might find your plan somewhat immoral. First, one might be concerned about the pain it might cause to your family, your parents and siblings, perhaps. Here you will obviously want to mitigate pain, explain to them how you feel, and so on. They know you well already, so will presumably understand to some extent. They may still prefer to have you around and in the swing of things, but here I think your own ambitions can legitimately trump.

Second, one might say that, being bright and born into a reasonably privileged position, you ought to do something for people worse off than youself. But you can do some of this without much interaction: through writing or donations, or in many other ways. (It's hard to be specific here, because you do not say much about how you plan to get by in Europe or wherever you may settle down.)

In short, I don't think you would do wrong to shun close friendships, intimacy, marriage. You have responsibilities toward others, of course, but you can fulfill these without engaging in the lifestyles you find unappealing.