Hedonistic Egoism Theory Paper

This paper will explore a specific theory within the study of ethics that is referred to as Hedonistic Egoism. I will seek to explain what the theory is about within the context of ethics and provide some examples of situations that a hedonistic egoism practitioner might encounter and why they might take certain actions or think in certain ways as it relates to their ethics.

Right away the terms hedonism and egoism bring with them very negative connotations for many people. When they think of ‘hedonism’ they might think of someone who is a sexual deviant or one that is purely a pleasure seeking individual, someone in pursuit of ‘sex, drugs and rock and roll’. When they think of Egoism, you think of the term egomaniac which is normally a …show more content…
If I were a practitioner of this type of ethics, I know it would make me feel good (pleasure) to help the child and if I also knew that no one was around to catch me so there would be no consequences (pain) to my actions, then I would have no problem about stealing that food and giving it to the child. I know this proves to follow the ethical code of a hedonistic egoism because the basic pleasure minus pain ratio would prove out in my favour. I would have seen the situation, found pleasure in stealing for the child and be happy there was no chance of being caught.

In conclusion, while this type of ethics does not match with my own personal moral code of ethics, I have an appreciation for practitioners of this ethics that I never would have thought I had. I can see how, when focused for good so to speak, that in order to seek out positive (pleasurable) results to their actions, you would by default end up with positive results in the overall society. Like those that feel good when they help others less fortunate than themselves succeed, they have selected to act on their moral code of helping themselves feel good, but the choice impacted society in a pleasurable way as