Letters
More than a throwaway “The End of Alcohol Monopolies?” (Cana- dian Issues, June) is a relevant subject of debate. We would all prefer lower prices and maybe that was the purpose of the ar- ticle rather than the more relevant issues of the trade barriers between provinces. I thought this was where the article was headed, but in the last paragraph the au- thor blames the issue of provincial and territorial control on what I infer to be gov- ernment spending. Understanding gov- ernment spending and the multiple ser- vice demands placed on the system of gov- ernment deserves more than a throwaway sentence at the end of the article. Robert Rupnik NEWMARKET, ONT.
Focus on the debate
In “Ethically Thinking” (The Right Thing, July/August), Karen Wensley asserts that “ethics is supposed to be its own reward,” and “the whole point of ethics is that you cannot act out of self-interest.” Respectful- ly, neither of these assertions has anything to do with what ethics really is about. Reward is not the purpose of ethics.
Ethics seeks to enable people to distin- guish and choose behaviours and actions that are helpful rather than harmful to sapient beings through rational decision- making. The “right” choice may be costly to the individual yet beneficial to human- ity (or animals) or vice versa. The ethical choice requires balancing these micro and macro costs and benefits to achieve
an optimal decision. Whether that makes one feel rewarded or not is not essential to ethical decision-making. Self-interest is neither right nor wrong,
from the perspective of ethics. Our entire capitalist system is founded on the notion of pursuit of individual gain, which is pret- ty much self-interest at work. Is capitalism itself unethical? I think not. Unbridled self-interest may be unethical, which is why we choose to have government and laws, whose purpose is to constrain self-in- terest to protect the rights and freedoms of individuals to control their bodies, minds and property. Those rights and freedoms include allowing individuals to pursue their private interest provided it does not infringe on the rights and freedoms of oth-
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4 | CPA MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2017
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