Egoism

In this essay, I will defend psychological egoism as the most probable explanation for moral choice and motivation. I hold psychological egoism to be “the 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” (Rachels 233). Since every action is moved by a desire to be satisfied, even in supposedly altruistic acts, one acts on a desire to satisfy one’s desire, so that supposedly altruistic acts are not actually altruistic. James Rachels, to whom my defining of psychological egoism is attributed, counters psychological egoism as incorrect moral skepticism. In the form of a Platonic dialogue, I will present, if successful, the impossibility for any ‘moral’ conduct beyond psychological egoism, counteracting Rachels own refutation in his essay, “Egoism and Moral Scepticism.” The dialogue will conclude with an explanation of psychological egoism as…

Egoism and Altruism are two ideas widely known in philosophy as two opposing ideas based on the actions of individuals. Egoists believe that people always act in their own self interest no matter what the situation is( Philosophy Questions & Theories, pg 28). Altruists believe that individuals will always act for the benefit of others. ( Philosophy Questions & Theories, pg 28). It is commonly known to be called “unselfishness”. These two ideas highlight the differences between two extreme…

Ethical Egoism and Self-Reliance Argument Ethics, Fall 2015 Meghan Higley My aim in this paper is to argue that the self-reliance objection does not show that Ethical Egoism is false. I will argue that Ethical Egoism never tells us to mind our own business and keep to ourselves. Ethical Egoism says that human beings always should morally do whatever will benefit themselves the most. The Self-Reliance argument says that the most effective way of making everyone better off is for each person to…

Much debate has taken place over the government bailout of General Motors Corporation. Did the CEO make the most ethical decision possible? Was the decision by the CEO based on egoism or utilitarianism? Was the government’s decision to do so based on egoism or utilitarianism? How does the ABCDs of ethics pertain to the bailout? Egoism in every form is self-focused. It can be personal, individual, and universal. It can also be ethical or unethical. People who practice personal egoism can be…

Egoism is the theory that people are, and should be, selfish and base their actions on what is going to benefit them the most. Many philosophers including Thomas Hobbes, Macaulay, Herbert Spencer and Aristotle supported and wrote about this theory. There are variations of egoism. One of them is the descriptive which states that people are motivated by their own interests and desires, and no one is exempt from this. The normative variant proposes that people should be driven by their own desires…

my personal thought process and belief structure is Egoism. When I say “I am an egoist” I automatically know what the majority of people will think, and that is “how selfish of you to think only of yourself”? When most people hear the word egoist it is automatically associated to have an extremely negative meaning about a person being a selfish person. Ethical egoist should not be confused with someone who is selfish, since this is not the traits of the egoist. The egoist believes that moral…

Though there are quite a few philosophical theories to which a person may rest their convictions, ethical egoism is among the ones most debated. In this paper, I will argue as to why ethical egoism is not a good philosophy to follow. Ethical egoism is the normative theory that it is always morally right to encourage a person's own good. A normative theory is a hypotheses, or statement, that dictates what is right or wrong, and just, or unjust, in a society. Therefore, ethical egoism is the…

Ayn Rand is most known for her belief that people shouldn't care about the other people; She refers to this an ethical egoism, she believes that people who rely on others or the government are “ looters” and “moochers”, and at most I kind of agree but in the end I found myself mostly disagreeing with her on her point of view. In my opinion, I Believe it is in human nature to care about the others and that yeah, we should care about ourselves as well, but we need to treat others the way we want…

In many ways, every person does indeed have a motive. Whether it is positive or negative, the thought process that determines action does not stop to think whether it’s ethical or unethical. There are two distinctive traits from the term egoism. First, psychological egoism is the assessment that all people, with no exception, base their actions by first seeking their own self-interest. I believe this is true, but in the same defense; there are occasionally some objections to my opinions.…

In Landau’s book, The Fundamentals of Ethics, Chapter seven focuses on psychological egoism. The backbone of this theory is that all human actions are driven by human’s egotistical desires. Landau defends this theory by stating, “Psychological egoism is a theory about human motivation: it tells us that our only motivation is to make ourselves better off.” (Landau 106) This means in order for someone to adopt this theory they must believe that even trivial events that seem very altruistic are…