Ethical Egoism Analysis

James Rachels writes about ethical egoism and psychological egoism and the comparison of the two. He does a nice job of providing the two views with a fair start but nicely points out their weaknesses. Initially, I did not understand psychological egoism because it seemed narrow-minded, however, after reading Rachels article, I have come to a better understanding that psychological egoism is an invalid theory. It is important to understand the differences’ between psychological egoism and ethical egoism. Psychological egoism is a view that “all men are selfish in everything that they do, that is, that the only motive from which anyone ever acts is self-interest”. Ethic Egoism, in contrast, is the opinion that “regardless of how men do in fact …show more content…
There are three beliefs Rachels has stated that would lead someone to accept this view. The first, being that selfishness is habitually intertwined with what is self-interest. One can easily act in their interests without being selfish, such as when you exercise. You aren’t exercising to be selfish you are simply taking care yourself. The second misunderstanding that leads to the belief in psychological egoism is to believe that all actions are either selfish or unselfish. This is a misinterpreted, for instance, parents who discipline their children aren’t doing so in order to feel any form of self satisfaction, nor are they trying to feel unselfish, instead they are instilling guidelines for their children’s lives. Finally, there is an incorrect notion that when one has an apprehension, it is unable to cooperate or coexist with an apprehension for others. Once these three flawed beliefs were made clearer, Rachels opinion, like my own, believe that psychological egoism isn’t the correct …show more content…
Whereas psychological egoism claims that people can only act in their self-interest. What makes ethical egoism such a disturbing doctrine is that it shows that one doesn’t need to behave compassionately, they just need to encourage others to do so. In order to demonstrate an action to be correct, it must be correct for everyone. Although, ethical egoist cannot support the search of someone’s own well-being becoming something that is accepted, leaving no way to preserve the rule of ethical egoism for how we should act. Ethical egoism challenges us to clarify why we should place significance on others who are good. However, most of us do not need such a justification, as we see the benefit of human beings as good people. The egoist does not accept the happiness of others as a adequate reason, and once that is clear, the argument can go no