Enlightened self-interest

Enlightened self-interest is a philosophy in ethics which states that persons who act to further the interests of others (or the interests of the group or groups to which they belong) ultimately serve their own self-interest.^[1]^[2]

It has often been simply expressed by the belief that an individual, group, or even a commercial entity will "do well by doing good".^[3]^[4]^[5]

The term enlightened self-interest has been criticised as a mere ideological or semantic device of neoclassical economic theory to justify this type of behaviour. It has been considered at best a variant of self-interest that is unsuitable for the establishment of personal and public relations, because like the definition of self-interest in the standard rational choice model, it fails to characterise human behaviour ethically, psychologically and cognitively.^[6]

^ "Tocqueville: Book II Chapter 8". xroads.virginia.edu.
^ "Economics of Enlightened Self-Interest". web.missouri.edu. Archived from the original on 2017-07-29. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
^ "Geoffrey Garrett: Doing Well by Doing Good". Archived from the original on 2019-04-23. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
^ "How to Succeed in 2007 | Howard Schultz | Business 2.0". money.cnn.com.
^ "Nielsen: Doing Well by Doing Good: Increasingly, consumers care about corporate social responsibility, but does concern convert to consumption?" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-04-23. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
^ Martinson, David (1994). "Enlightened Self-Interest Fails as an Ethical Baseline in Public Relations". Journal of Mass Media Ethics. 9 (2): 100–108. doi:10.1207/s15327728jmme0902_4. Retrieved 8 January 2023.

[1] "Tocqueville: Book II Chapter 8". xroads.virginia.edu.

[2] "Economics of Enlightened Self-Interest". web.missouri.edu. Archived from the original on 2017-07-29. Retrieved 2008-06-11.

[3] "Geoffrey Garrett: Doing Well by Doing Good". Archived from the original on 2019-04-23. Retrieved 2019-04-23.

[4] "How to Succeed in 2007 | Howard Schultz | Business 2.0". money.cnn.com.

[5] "Nielsen: Doing Well by Doing Good: Increasingly, consumers care about corporate social responsibility, but does concern convert to consumption?" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-04-23. Retrieved 2019-04-23.

[6] Martinson, David (1994). "Enlightened Self-Interest Fails as an Ethical Baseline in Public Relations". Journal of Mass Media Ethics. 9 (2): 100–108. doi:10.1207/s15327728jmme0902_4. Retrieved 8 January 2023.

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