Ethical Egoism: Robin Command Theory

There are four types of egoism (ETHICAL EGOISM). The first is Psychological egoism and it is the view that humans are always motivated by self-interest. An example of this is …….. The second is Ethical egoism. This is when you should do something that is in your own self-interest. An example of this is performing a task for someone because you are getting paid to do it. Third is Individual ethical egoism. It states that everyone should act in their own best self-interest. An example of this is a policeman. He/she believes that they should do what is in their best interest just because of their role in society. Finally there is Universal ethical egoism. It states that everyone should always act in their own best self-interest, regardless of the interests of others, unless their interests

Believing in ethical egoism means that you’re classifying all humans in two groups; you and the rest of the world. You believe your values are better and are right compared to other people’s values. If you think your duty is to do what is best for yourself, and you do not care about others only if they benefit you, it can lead to many problems. You can use the example of a 60-year-old man shooting his letter carrier seven times because he was $90,000 in debt and thought that being in prison would be better than being homeless. This guy in making the decision to kill the letter carrier was thinking about himself. He was not thinking about the letter carrier, his family, etc. If you believe in ethical egoism, you would conclude that it was normal for the 60-year-old guy to do and you have to accept his

The Ego Centric Problem states that the knowledge we have gained over the period of our lives in entrenched so deep that it prevents us from learning new things. Descartes states that “if we can only be certain of the contents of our consciousness, then how are we ever to gain knowledge of the world that lies beyond our minds. This brings up a good point, if we already have knowledge, does that knowledge have any influence on us that would hinder us to learn new things.

There are two basic kinds of egoism, there is ethical egoism and there is psychological egoism. These two different forms of egoism are different because ethical egoism is the normative ethical position that what is moral is to be done in self-interest. This is different from psychological egoism which states specifically that people will only act in their own self-interest. Ethical egoism is broken up into two forms. There is act egoism and Rule egoism. Act egoism says

David Shoemaker provides two theories of egoism in the text--psychological theory and ethical theory. Psychological egoism is the claim that all actions are done solely for the sake of one’s own self-interest. Ethical egoism simply states that all actions ought to be done for the sake of one’s own self interests. Shoemaker elaborates stating ethical egoism is the more attractive theory.

Egoism might be interpreted by many disciplines. According to ethical egosim, the morally right action is the one that best promotes the individual’s own interests. One of the most important contributor of egoism is Adam Smith. Egoism focuses on individual desires and interests. When we evaluate the overbooking case from the view of egoism, it can be said that airlines companies act ethically because they try to maximize their own interests by trying to increase their profits. However, as I pointed out in the United Airlines case, it might not always result with an extra profit but with huge losses. Nevertheless, because the companies’ intent is to maximize their profits which is good for their own interests, we can conclude that overbooking is ethical from the view of egoism even though the consequences are not always positive. It is needless to say that for customers in overall, overbooking is unethical because it is mostly against their own

     Also, when a situation arises in which one must make a split decision, does the psychological egoist expect a human to deliberate whether the action is in their self-interest or not? For example, if I see my child run out onto a busy street and I can see that if I run out and grab her I can save her life and if I do not, my child will be squished by a speeding car. Do I, as the egoist would expect, take the time to deliberate that saving my child will result in all kinds of good for both her and I? No, I rush out and grab her in an instant and the good comes later. Now of course it is true that we sometimes get satisfaction and/or good feelings from acting unselfishly, but it would be a post hoc fallacy to say that we perform unselfish acts solely for the sake of that satisfaction. Also, self-interest and an interest for the welfare of others can certainly be bedfellows, and not strange ones. Using the shopkeeper example, he could opt never cheat his customers simply because he knows that honesty is good for business. He could cheat his customers and make a boatload of money, but he knows that it is wrong to cheat and lie to people – it hurts them, is unfair and may make him feel guilty. So, self-interest or selfishness is not

There are many different types of ethical egoism: Personal ethical egoism, Individual ethical egoism, Universal ethical egoism, Categorical egoism, and Hypothetical egoism. Personal ethical egoism is the belief that one should act for

Ethical Egoism is a normative claim; it believes that individuals should always in their best interest. Another view of ethical egoism is that a person should act according to his own self-interest even if it goes against the values and beliefs of others.

Rachels (2003) described ethical egoism to having three arguments which makes it a valid ethical theory to abide by. One of the arguments explained how it is in one’s self-interest to not have help from others (Rachels, 2003). It is considered degrading to have someone offer his or her “charity” (Rachels, 2003, p.194) in attempts to make one’s life better. A person does not want to be regarded as incapable and in need of someone’s help. If everyone was to adapt an ethical egoist point of view, no one would be seen as inferior and everyone would be given an equal chance to succeed (Rachels, 2003). If strong affirmative action programs were employed to the NESA program everyone would undermine

On the other hand, ethical egoism is a theory that prescribes moral obligation, where all people should be motivated out of self interest (Rachels, 2003, p. 70). This means that every person ought to act in a way that is best for him/herself. Ethical egoism claims that it is moral for all of an individual’s actions to be based on self-interest, without concerning him/herself with the interests of others. In fact, this thought may be continued by stating that altruism is, therefore, personally hindering and even demeaning (Brink, 1997, p. 122). Hence, ethical egoism must consequently mean that actions taken in an individual’s self-interest are moral actions, and actions taken that are not self-beneficial to an individual are immoral and should, as a result, be avoided.

Ethical egoism claims that all our actions can be reduced to self-interest. This is a controversial moral theory which sometimes can be detrimental. Without a well-defined framework of the nature of self-interest, ethical egoism enlarges the animalistic nature of humanity in which can result in unfavorable consequences. Ethical egoism also fails to provide a solution when a conflict of interest arises. By only acting out of one’s self

The theory of psychological egoism is indeed plausible. The meaning of plausible in the context of this paper refers to the validity or the conceivability of the theory in question, to explain the nature and motivation of human behavior (Hinman, 2007). Human actions are motivated by the satisfaction obtained after completing a task that they are involved in. For example, Mother Teresa was satisfied by her benevolent actions and activities that she spent her life doing. As Hinman (2007) points out, she was likely to reduce in activity if she experienced any dissatisfaction in her endeavors.

At times, ethical egoism can benefit the larger group, as in a doctor in a rural town with free rent and a captive audience. The city provides the rent, the doctor the care, but all benefit.

Psychological egoism is the belief that a person’s actions are prompted by their own selfishness. If every action in the world was done, only to fulfill one’s own selfish aspirations, then there would be no purely altruistic deeds. Moral egoism is the belief that people should do what is in their best self-interest; however, they have a tendency to carry out actions due to their genuineness. Based on its definition, morality is doing something because it is the “right” thing to do. Psychological egoism creates a threat to morality, because if a person is acting kindly, not because it is right, but because he seeks self-gain, then morality is non-existent.