POSTPONED — Parr Center Presents: Grant Rozeboom

“When the Vain Couldn’t Care Less”

Vain people unjustifiably expect to be highly regarded by others. This is annoying, but is it ever a serious moral problem? I think it depends on the kind of vanity in question. There are two important distinctions we should draw: between vain people who do, and those who do not, care about the correctness of their inflated expectations of high regard, and between vain people who expect high praise and those who expect deference. The most serious moral problems arise from vain people who do not care about the correctness of their inflated regard-expectations and who expect deference. We can label them “smug” and “entitled.” A familiar example is the “tech bro,” who feels that the world should cater to his entrepreneurial whims and pursuits, and who couldn’t care less about whether these expectations of deference are correct. Entitled-smug people present two serious moral problems that I explore: first, they are deeply resistant to relating to others as moral equals, and second, it is unclear whether and how we should hold them responsible for their vice, given its intransigence. I also consider how these two moral problems are magnified when entitled-smug people hold positions of formal authority, such as being a manager.  (Rozeboom)

Grant J. Rozeboom is Assistant Professor of Business Administration-Ethics and Philosophy at St. Norbert College, and soon to be Assistant Professor of Business Ethics and Corporate Responsibility at Saint Mary’s College of California. His research and teaching concern a range of issues in normative and applied ethics, including the basis of moral equality, the attitude of respect for persons, and morally creditworthy motivation. He is currently exploring how hierarchical authority relations in workplaces can be compatible with the moral equality of persons, what forms of arrogance and entitlement are dangerous in managers, and how companies should (or shouldn’t) try to make their employees more ethical.