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Originally Posted by TGS
I'm interested in your implied distinction between "apparently ethical" and what that might be contrasted with - "really ethical", "genuinely ethical"? If there is such a distinction what does it rest upon? This is a guess and by all means shoot me down, but is there a hidden assumption in your distinction that "really ethical" behaviour cannot be motivated by self-interest, whereas "apparently ethical" behaviour looks as though it is not motivated by self-interest but when you break it down it actually is?
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In a nutshell, I think human behaviour can be explained by self-interest. When you understand peoples' motives, you understand their behaviour.
I wonder to what extent we need to think of ethics at all outside of philosophical debates. Applying Occam's Razor seems to eliminate it from any discourse about how people actually behave, or want to behave.