The Individual Good, Rational Self Interest, Autonomy, And Individual Ethics

The Individual Good, Autonomy, and Individual Ethics A Tract Book Essay By Anthony J. Fejfar, J.D., Esq., Coif © Copyright 2007 by Anthony J. Fejfar

Plato argued that the end of man, both as an individual and as a society, was the Good. Aristotle, on the other hand argued for the Common Good as did Thomas Aquinas. In the Treatise on Law, in the Summa Theologica, Thomas Aquinas argued that the end of law is the common good. I argue that Plato was right and that the end of law is the Good. The problem, is, however, that some people tend to conflate the Good with the Common Good. For those using conventional morality, the only Good is the Common Good. So, to clarify, I argue that the Good is an Individual Good. The Individual Good starts with you (or me) the individual person and works outward from there. The Greatest Good is my Rational Self Interest. The second Greatest Good is my Autonomy. The third Greatest Good is my use of the ethics of the Ethical Matrix. Now it may appear that in choosing the Individual Good that I am being egoistic and selfish. This, however, is not the case. The Self, of my

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Rational Self Interest, is, the True me, The True Tony, and, at the same time, the Holy Spirit in me. This is a type of Spirit Mysticism. My True Self is totally and completely me and totally and completely God, at the same time. So, for John Doe, for example, his True Self is the True John, in him, and at the same time, the Holy Spirit, in him. The Common Good, on the other hand, can only be pursued with caution. Unfortunately, the Common Good is typically interpreted as a matter of Conventional Morality, based upon inauthentic authority, not upon some type of metaphysical Good. Autonomy is similar to Rational Self Interest. Literally, Autonomy means to be Self Directed. Once again the True Self of Autonomous Self Direction is both simultaneously the True me, and the Holy Spirit. In this sense I can be Selfish and ethical but not selfish and ethical. This leads to the final notion, ethics over conventional morality. I argue that morality must give way to individual ethics. The ethical principles of Reciprocity, Utility, Proportionality, and Equity found in the Ethical Matrix should control.

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