Ethical Egoism, a normative theory, states that an individual should only look out for themselves, personally and individually. The theory believes that the only time that someone should consider the act of helping another person, would be if that act would help them in the end. This theory focuses on how we should act as individuals, what we believe we should do. Utilitarianism in theory believes that we should concern ourselves with the decisions that will bring the greatest happiness and the best consequences to the greatest number of people. In some cases, some people’s happiness or wellbeing may be abandoned to obtain what would be the greater good. In order to determine if an action is better than its alternatives, we look to its actual
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If I were following individual, I should only look out for my own self-interests, and only be concerned about others if in return that concern would in some way benefit myself. Universal can sometimes be inconsistent or incoherent. If I were to follow this theory, I would seek my own self-interests – and also expect every other individual to do the same. This is where the issue with universal ethical egoism comes into play, what if someone seeking their own best interest, interferes with me seeking my own best interests? Often with this theory, people realize what ought to happen for individual seeking their own best interest, but at the same time hoping it doesn’t happen so personally their own self-interest doesn’t …show more content…
The issue with this, is that sometimes people can say things like ‘So, if two thieves steal from one person, it is justified because only one person is being negatively affected, while two people are benefiting. In order to avoid this situation, contemporary utilitarians often focus on general rules, instead of on individual acts. There are two separate sides, rule utilitarianism and act utilitarianism. Rule focuses on the rules, while act solely focuses on the consequences of specific individual traits. There are alike because they still require the outcome to lead to the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest amount of people, but differ because they consider different things when estimating the
If I were following individual, I should only look out for my own self-interests, and only be concerned about others if in return that concern would in some way benefit myself. Universal can sometimes be inconsistent or incoherent. If I were to follow this theory, I would seek my own self-interests – and also expect every other individual to do the same. This is where the issue with universal ethical egoism comes into play, what if someone seeking their own best interest, interferes with me seeking my own best interests? Often with this theory, people realize what ought to happen for individual seeking their own best interest, but at the same time hoping it doesn’t happen so personally their own self-interest doesn’t …show more content…
The issue with this, is that sometimes people can say things like ‘So, if two thieves steal from one person, it is justified because only one person is being negatively affected, while two people are benefiting. In order to avoid this situation, contemporary utilitarians often focus on general rules, instead of on individual acts. There are two separate sides, rule utilitarianism and act utilitarianism. Rule focuses on the rules, while act solely focuses on the consequences of specific individual traits. There are alike because they still require the outcome to lead to the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest amount of people, but differ because they consider different things when estimating the