Ben, Patrick Effiong2023-07-312023-07-312022Ben, P.E. 2022, 'The paradox of ambivalent human interest in innocent Asouzu’s complementary ethics', Filosofia Theoretica: Journal of African Philosophy, Culture and Religions, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 89-108, doi : 10.4314/ft.v11i2.7.2276-8386 (print)2408-5987 (online)10.4314/ft.v11i2.7http://hdl.handle.net/2263/91730In 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.en© Calabar School of PhilosophyAmbivalent human interestParadoxSelf-defeating actsGreedUnrestrained impulse for pleasureArticle