Abstract:
In this paper, I argue that the cause of morally self-defeating acts at the collective
level is greed and, at the individual level, an unrestrained impulse for pleasure
beyond Innocent Asouzu’s primordial instinct for self-preservation and ignorance.
In investigating why humans act in self-defeating ways, Asouzu came up with two
possible factors responsible for self-defeating acts: The primordial instinct for selfpreservation
and ignorance. Besides Asouzu’s explanation, I here argue that the
problem of self-defeating acts goes beyond the primordial instinct for selfpreservation
and ignorance to reveal a flaw characteristic of the human condition.
At the collective level, the flaw responsible for self-defeating acts is greed and the
unrestrained impulse for pleasure at the individual level. I employ the
conversational method to interrogate the different views on self-defeating acts
from Socrates to Asouzu and show why my explanation offers a better
understanding of the problem.
