Objection: people aren’t purely self-interested Gauthier says people are utility maximizers and instrumentally rational. In doing so he indicates they are self-interested and mutually disinterested. This is a false assumption, because most people are not really like this. If he’s working from a false assumption, isn’t his entire approach to morality suspect assumes altruism other interested So why does anyone (philosopher or economist) assume self-interest? If people naturally helped each other then you would have no need for morality immorality goes away. Taking the most immoral theory (self-interest) and showing that even in that circumstance people can be moral. Going to the opposite extreme doesn’t make sense (altruistic always want to help someone else no interest in yourself. People area bit of both. He chose self-interested as that is what economists work with. Still want to show that people want to cooperate his morality holds up even in these circumstances.
