Free Egoism Essays

The distinction between psychological egoism and ethical egoism reflects the contrast of “is” verses “ought,” “fact” verses “value,” or “descriptive” verses “prescriptive” (Philosophy Lander, 2006).Because of this, one can commit an altruistic act with ethical egoism, however, with psychological egoism altruism is impossible unless simultaneously serving the interest of the individual as well.The alternatives to such altruistic action are egoism, as described through ethical and psychological egoism.This expresses the difference between the descriptive nature of psychological egoism and the prescriptive nature of ethical egoism, with the former stating humans do things in their own best interests, while the latter states that humans mere...

In the poem Ivan declaims to his brother in the cafe he expresses his view on the free will.Rosemary Edmonds, Penguin.The Inquisitor blames Jesus for giving people free will, which has become a hard burden and the reason of misery.For Dostoevsky the conflicts between free will and determination, and between egoism and responsibility become driving force and a source for creativity.The feeling of guilt becomes Ivan’s price for an attempt to express his free will.

Women will be able to use their own moral conscience when choosing whether they need to use free contraception or not.Catholic leaders, in particular, have argued that such a mandate will ultimately force them to provide free contraception, which is against their religious practices.In essence, I feel that utilitarian’s will agree that the mandate for free contraception and birth control for women can be beneficial to all parties involved.Religiously affiliated institutions oppose the mandate for free contraception because of their belief that it infringes on their freedom of religion.In the text, its states, “Egoism – specifically ethical egoism – argues that our moral evaluations should be made in terms of our desires and goals.

For Kant, an absolute moral truth must b logical consistent, free from internal contradictions.The company gave its quote on the basis of its profits, which itself portrays the impersonal egoism.Kent Graham is motivated to make and negotiate the deal as a result of the egoism in him to gain maximum profits for himself that can be down tracked to the reasons of retaining his job and also supporting his family.The activities of Kent can be traced back to his personal benefits, which is the core for egoism.This power of egoism inside him made him to negotiate the larger prices to his company.

Reconsidering Ayn Rand, Michael B.Yang – WinePress Pub.Ayn Rand institute of objectivity can be informally characterized as the “world outlook of Life on Earth.” Its goal is to help in the formation of a generation of “new intellectuals” who will assert the mind, individualism, and morality of reasonable egoism as integral means of achieving prosperity and happiness in this world.American novelists since World War II, James RichardGiles – Wanda H.Giles – Gale Group – 2000 .The book is replete with complex philosophical discourses and unpopular ideas.However, it is still worthy of attention.

Egoism is based on the view that each individual or corporation has their own wants and needs.I have learnt about the five normative theories in approaching, namely utilitarianism, egoism, virtue ethics, Kantianism and justice ethics.As egoism centralizes benefit for self, it is wise to exercise certain amounts of egoism.Firstly, Egoism is a theory based on self interests.As egoism is centered upon one’s self, the needs of others, as to the user/agent may not be evaluated, thus, individuals may have no intentions to pursue the needs of others (Rachels 1986).

Supporters of ethical egoism argue that his framework is the only ethical framework that motivates individual and is a “win-win” proposition.Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson-Prentice Hall .This framework was an attempt to bridge the gap between the two competing ethical frameworks of ethical egoism and utilitarianism by Henry Sidgwick.Stanwick, P. A., & Stanwick, S. D. (2009).“Ethical egoism is based on the belief that every individual should act in a way to promote himself or herself if the net result will generate, on balance, positive rather than negative results” (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009, p. 4).

For instance, according to ethical egoism, it is in A’s best-interest to kill B so A has a duty to do so and it is in B’s best interest to avoid being killed so B has a duty (by ethical egoism) to prevent it.There are three distinct types of ethical egoism: Personal ethical egoism, Individual ethical egoism and Universal ethical egoism.Ethical egoism gives no help in this regard so ethical egoism is not an acceptable morality.Ethical egoism and only ethical egoism allows each individual’s life to be of supreme importance or ultimate value to them.Ethical egoism also differs from rational egoism, which holds merely that it is rational to act in one’s self-interest.

Rational egoism is a form of egoism who claims that it is rational to act in accordance to one’s self-interest.However, in spite of all the goods one may find in the idea of ethical egoism I still stand firm to my belief against ethical egoism.Thus in this regard it would suffice for me to say that the theory of ethical egoism in itself is incomplete since when a conflict between the interests of two egoists comes into question, ethical egoism gives no advice on how to solve such problem.There are three categories under ethical egoism namely, personal ethical egoism, individual ethical egoism and lastly, universal ethical egoism.Thus this example would prove that ethical egoism ranks one’s interest more than the interest of the majority ...

Furthermore, there is confusion in the concept of psychological egoism found in the object of desire and the subsequent results of the fulfillment of that desire (Moseley, 2006).The doctrine of motivation for Ethical Egoism lies within self-interest, while Psychological Egoists are motivated by the rational self-interest, even in an act that tends to be altruistic in nature.Ethical Egoism per se, postulates that the promotion of an individual’s own good conforms to the standards of morality (Waller, 2005).Ethical Egoism Ethical Egoism is a normative ethical standpoint which implies moral people should act in accordance to their self-interest.The Difference between Psychological and Ethical Egoism It is of vital importance to distinguish ...

Strong and Weak Versions of Ethical Egoism According to strong ethical egoism it is always right to intend one’s own self interest, and not at all right not to do so.Although also in the psychological theory the end product is the personal benefit but ethically it seems productive than ethical egoism which is highly inclined toward misinterpretation.Psychological egoism Psychological egoism is a descriptive type of theory.Fallacy in Psychological Egoism The major fallacy in Psychological egoism is hasty generalization Humans are often known to work or act for the welfare of others like donating in charity, doing volunteer work, such acts are not visibly benefitting the one who is doing it.In such a case weak ethical egoism supports and s...

On the other hand, in psychological egoism, the motivation rest on the person’s or individual’s preference for self-interest.The Fallacy in Psychological Egoism Although Psychological egoism seems to be perfectly valid, it was widely refuted with respect to the fallacies that it had committed.Two Sides of Ethical Egoism The weak version of ethical egoism takes on the side of the probability of “altruistic behavior”.Major Similarities and Their Differnces Thus, as presented above, ethical egoism differs from psychological egoism in the sense that ethical egoist incorporates morality as a basis for human actions.If those who supports psychological egoism would argue that all actions whether it be an act of conscience or an act that hurts o...

Conceptually however, ethical egoism is not founded on the disregard of the basic well being of the other people by the specific moral agent.The ultimate goal of egoism is therefore to achieve good feelings on personal pleasure which could consequently help in reducing and avoiding any probable scores of pain.The principle code of ethical egoism is providing the rationale for a persons action in his/he own interest.However, psychological egoism has its value that individuals can primarily act within the scores of their motives held in self-interests.Comparatively therefore, the truth value of ethical egoism outscores that of psychological egoism in that if it holds true, then psychological egoism would subjectively be untrue.

In this respect, according to strong ethical egoism, I should buy Fairtrade coffee only because of how it benefits me and the thought of benefit for any other person should not even be a consideration.In other words, the theory of psychological egoism is simply non-falsifiable.On the other hand, ethical egoism as a prescriptive theory derives its motivation from the desires of the individual to maximize his or her own self-interests.Once one accepts the premise of psychological egoism, namely that everything an individual does is out of concern for self-interest, it is impossible to offer any counter-examples to the theory.Because psychological egoism is merely a descriptive theory, it draws its motivation from nature, or simply “the way...

Psychological egoism, then, serves as a natural springboard for moral skepticism.The other form of egoism, called as “ethical egoism,” states that the individual ought to act according to his own interests.If I am incapable to select any but the largest slice of cake, table morals would seem to be useless for me.According to Lousis Pojman, “the paradox of egoism is that in order to reach the goal of egoism, one must give up egoism and become (to some extent) an altruist.” Pojman arrived at this conclusion considering deep friendships and loving relationships.Ethical egoism rests on the belief that altruism (contrary to egoism) is so all-consuming that it has as a necessary consequence the virtual inability to lead a meaningful, fruitful,...

Thus, the opponents believe that human’s act is not solely due to the egoism but there might be other factors which are taken into the consideration before a human act.From the point of view of the psychological egoism opponents, the business man does not cheat his clients and customers had take care the welfare of them and the business man did this for the good of his business which is the self-interest.The psychological egoism opponents hence state that people act not only for their self-interest but also may contain the interest in others’ welfare.Besides, opponents of psychological egoism said that self-interest and interest in the welfare of others are not necessarily incompatible.Firstly, the arguments against the psychological ego...

While in ethical egoism, the individual’s pursuit is directed towards eliminating his or her source of pain in order to attain pleasure; in capitalism, the individual’s self-interest is directed in gaining profit which he or she can attain by eliminating competition or by triumphantly overcoming any kind of competition that comes in his or her way.Excessively wanting something, in within either the tenets of ethical egoism and capitalism, will always be detrimental to the status of every individual or in any society.In both the underlying tenets in capitalism and ethical egoism, self-interest plays a huge role.The parallelism of the tenets between ethical egoism and capitalism shows the distinct comparison and similarity of the ideas con...

It differs from psychological egoism, which claims that people do only act in their self-interest.Ethical egoism or egotism (also known as egoism) is the normative ethical arrangement that ethical agents have to do what is in their personal self-interest.It is indeed a non-normative vision, as it only makes arguments about how things are and not how they should be; it is conversely, linked to numerous other normative shapes of egoism, for instance ethical egoism and rational egoism.A quarrel for psychological egoism advises is that individuals just do what makes them sense fine, thus making all actions self-centered, for instance, you may help a turtle across a road because if you did not you would be upset about its well-being crossing ...

Although ethical egoism is trying to be helpful, it seems that the argument goes about it in a very selfish way.There is one solid, logical argument for ethical egoism.Psychological egoism, as Dr. Belcher describes it is, “Psychological egoism is the claim that humans are (and can be) motivated only by selfish desires or that humans can pursue only their own self-interests.” This means that every action that helps others turns into a selfish one because the action gives satisfaction or happiness to the human that performs the action.5) Therefore, ethical egoism is the most logical theory.I will try to defend ethical egoism.

The distinction between the psychological and ethical egoism lies in the contrast between “is” and “should,” “fact” and “value” and “descriptive” and “prescriptive.In an essay by Brandi Davison, he established the strong and weak versions of ethical egoism.While both types of egoism discuss one’s own self-interest, they are different in the sense that ethical egoism emphasizes that an individual’s own welfare is the only thing that essentially matters for him and should seek as an end only his own welfare.The motivation for each theory differs because unlike psychological egoists whose ulterior motive is selfishness, ethical egoism is driven by doing what is right.Another for psychological egoism (pleasure, pain and moral education) is t...

The arguments of Rachels are so significant in a sense that he really brings out the object of the debate and the misconception imposed by the principle of psychological egoism – that is the distinction of selfishness from unselfishness, and the irrelevance of selflessness in the discussion.Rachels successfully shared a very interesting and very enlightening truth about the flaws of the psychological egoism.To sum up and conclude, Psychological Egoism proved nothing but the truest essence of justice.Rachels’ recommendations or interpretations against the psychological egoism is viable for the simple reason that one should consider the welfare of others in order that he could also expect that in return, others would also do the same thing...

Therefore, it is clear that the view of ethical egoism as a moral standard of what people ought to do is clearly incorrect since no matter what situation is produced, the moral agent will always act in their self-interest and that any positive outcomes on others is just a positive consequence.The second argument being that for psychological egoism, selfless actions always create self-satisfaction in the moral agent and this produces a pleasant state of consciousness.Using such arguments, Glaucon is able to rule out situations such as altruistic behavior or motivation by thoughts of duty alone as proves for ethical egoism.Second, I will examine Rachels’ essay on ethical and psychological egoism.In conclusion, after examining “Glaucon’s Ch...

in Rand) in favour of the theory is that a form of egoism was one of the thrust the American Revolution.Shaver avers that based on the ethical egoism theory it is necessary and sufficient for an action to be morally right and that it maximizes own good.He states that individual ethical egoism is notion that all persons should serve self-interest.Personal ethical egoism is the belief that one should act from the motive of self-interest (Shaver).To understand the ethical egoism theory we must first know certain principles behind it.

Egoism is a shortcut for an individual to make the best decision.Looking for a reason why Egoism is not an ethical theory, one should consider whether the theory is one that many acceptable as a viable ethical theory (Birsch, 2002).By using Egoism as a guide to decide on an action, the individual is able to do what is best for himself or herself, and to do what is best for oneself is ethical, according to Egoism.According to Birsch, Egoism fails to be an acceptable because it is a theory that focuses solely on the individual.From this line of reasoning, Egoism is not acceptable.

New York, 2011. .Psychological egoism is not the best ethical theory to give analogy on same sex marriage but it gives you an idea on people’s self-interests and how important they are when talking about homosexuality.The Fundamentals of Ethics.New York: Free Press, 1996. .This is a weird but straightforward example of how ethical egoism would be like when applied to same sex marriage.

The moral theories and views of the following authors shall be applied each according to the particular audience: Ayn Rand’s ethical egoism, Peter Singer and Garrett Hardin’s ethical altruism.As this moral theory presupposes that individual should act of its own interest, it does not prescribe, as many mistakenly assume, blindly following one’s wishes and passions.One of the basic principles of Ayn Rand’s views of ethical egoism used for this presentation states that other people constitute a significant value to an individual’s well-being, because through interaction all the participants of the said interaction gain mutual benefits (Rand, & Branden, 1964).The ethical views of Ayn Rand are the most consistent with the ethical egoism and ...

The theory of egoism nevertheless provides us another way in which we can view the actuations of men, though for the most part it does not bring us any guarantee that all of our acts are nevertheless grounded on selfish desires and, hence, it cannot absolutely be a viable moral theory.Central to psychological egoism is the argument that self-interest is always the motive behind all the acts of human beings, including acts which are categorized as deeds of altruism.[1] Elia Kazan’s Autobiography .Going roughly over the points being argued in egoism, there may be cases wherein several acts of individuals are basically fueled by selfish desires.See Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) – original name Thomas Lanier Williams (Publication.

In conclusion ethical egoism is true by Glaucon’s arguments, and his methods and views can be agreed with, unless you already hold some other philosophical standpoint such as Utilitarianism.In Glaucon’s views and the views of ethical egoism one ought to act in their own self interest, as that is what creates happiness.Glaucon uses three case examples to justify his arguments in Plato’s Republic and the truth behind ethical egoism and his challenge is a good source of debate for whether or not ethical egotism is valid in today’s society.Now this is a clear concept of psychological egoism, so how is it that Glaucon asserts ethical egoism exists and is true?Many people are able to debate or use Glaucon’s argument to further their own belief...

The advertisement promised consumers that cigarettes were safe and denied all health risks to consumers.If everyone was free to fake data, universal lying would weaken trust in communication.This scenario could almost determine the future of fast food industries being irresponsible about marketing to addicted consumers.If major food corporations don’t undertake measures to outweigh unhealthy promotion to children and society, they might too face the same consequences.Egoism also usually takes part in most of my moral decision making.

Ethical Egoism can also be associated with the common-sense moral intuitions.Ethical egoism is unacceptably arbitrary, ethical egoism does not count as a moral theory.The above arguments make a strong claim for ethical egoism but I will now look at the theory more in detail to see whether it is a good moral theory to follow.With his example given it can clearly be seen that this debunked one of the arguments listed above in favor of ethical egoism.This is the reason why ethical egoism fails as a moral theory, we can positively claim that ethical egoism is not a moral theory because it is endorses bad actions, it’s locally inconsistent and it’s arbitrary.