That's rather different from the invisible hand of material self-interest and consumerism that is supposed to drive the economy forward.
Far from suggesting yet another monocausal explanation for the murder of Europe's Jews, my book examines one contributory factor that has been insufficiently considered in previous analyses: the material self-interest of the German masses.
He pitted his Underground Man – the quintessential loser dreaming of revenge against society's winners – against the idea of rational egoism, or material self-interest, then popular in Russia among eager readers of John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham.
First, there is Aly's monochromatic notion of human nature — the assumption that Germans under Nazism were moved primarily by material self-interest (rather than, say, feeling thoroughly enthusiastic about Nazi militarism as long as it was successful, and unconcerned that Jews were demoted to second-class citizens — and then disappeared).
All of the opponents of the new "irrationalism" – whether left, centre, or right – are united by the presumption that individuals are rational actors, motivated by material self-interest, enraged when their desires are thwarted, and, therefore, likely to be appeased by their fulfilment.
In its civil part the instruction owed much to German political philosophy and natural-law jurisprudence, putting the individual's duties before his rights, emphasizing the state's responsibility for the welfare of the nation, and encouraging the pursuit of material self-interest within the established order.
Most economic models are based on the self-interest hypothesis that assumes that material self-interest exclusively motivates all people.
This was and is the idea that the pursuit of one's material self-interest rightly trumps all other goals and is, in the final analysis, supremely ethical.
Marx's greatest contribution to thinking about evil may lie in his insight into the profound immorality of the principle guiding the system of capitalism, both in his day and ours, to wit, that the pursuit of material self-interest is supremely good.
False reason is supposed to serve material self-interest alone.
The Empathic Civilization is a fascinating book that boldly challenges the conventional view of human nature embedded in our educational systems, business practices, and political culture -- a view that sees human nature as detached, rational, and objective, and sees individuals as autonomous agents in pursuit primarily of material self-interest.
