Ethical Egoism And Normative Claim

Psychological egoism is a clear claim that all moral beings should act in their own self-interest, even when appearing to act in the interest of others. On the other hand, ethical egoism is a standardizing claim, which states that moral beings commit to do what is in their best interest. The difference between both claims is that one is a normative claim and the other is a descriptive claim. A descriptive claim (psychological egoism) describes the actions of moral beings and creates a moral standard according to their behavior. A normative claim (ethical egoism) involves judging what people should do thus creating a moral standard. Moreover, to fully understand the similarities and differences, one must first understand the two concepts along with their ideas, arguments and benefits. However, keep in mind that “no one is all-powerful” (2010), but “we all want the very same thing: to make ourselves as well off as we can be” (Landau, 2010, p.89). …show more content…
This argument implies that every person is motivated to act in such a way that it will create the best results for himself or herself. Thus, actions that may appear to be altruistic, unselfish, are, in fact, driven by one’s self-interest (Rachels, 2003, p.71). Therefore, underlying the question about what a person will get out of every action they take. According to Rachels, questioning the gain of every action remains an issue of human psychology against to being one of ethics. Consequently, psychological egoism has a serious price for morality. If psychological egoism is correct, then that would mean that all society is formed of selfish individuals who only care about their personal gain and therefore, it will “spell the defeat of morality as we know it.” (Landau, 2010,