On Liberty

Egoism. Egoism is the closest moral principle for the Ford Pinto. Because Egoism can be explain as self-interest and have a long-term interest,

This essay argues that John Stuart Mill's On Liberty presents a strong case for individuality of citizens, challenging the role of paternalism through autonomous social progress and utilitarian values. On the other hand, it is shown that Mill's arguments against public regulations are very narrow, and his own ideas frequently adhere to paternalism, thus creating a weak defence against state control politics.

Lawrence Kohlberg, a developmental psychologist, identified six developmental stages of human moral reasoning. The first stage that he recognized was the Punishment-Obedience Orientation, where the person’s concern is for avoiding punishment through obedience. The second stage was the Instrumental Relativist Orientation, where the person’s concern is to work in their self interest, and better their position. The third stage of moral development was the Good Boy-Nice Girl Orientation, where the person’s concern lies with their reputation. Next was the Law And Order Orientation, where the person was less concerned with their own immediate well being to the maintenance of a larger society. The fifth stage was the Social Contract

1. Formation of humanistic-altruistic system of values, becomes: "Practice of loving-kindness and equanimity within context of caring consciousness" (p. 468).

Samuel Butler once said, “Self-preservation is the first law of nature.” This statement could not be more true because self preservation is the greatest human motivator as it grows in power as the world evolves, and establishes all basic humans needs and desires that other motivations lie within. Cynicism is often considered to be a form of skepticism (Cynicism=Self Preservation). However, the belief that all people are motivated by self interest is partially true. Humans are born with a natural desire to protect themselves, protect their image as seen by others, and make their life as fulfilling as possible and there are many examples to showcase it.

Selflessness is the idea that one is able to be more concerned with the needs of others over themselves. The value of selflessness is crucial in the Younger household, and is exemplified by Mama who plans on using the insurance money selflessly to buy a house for her family, rather than taking a vacation. Despite this excellent guide, Walter has a sense of entitlement to the insurance money as he says, “He was my father too.” (Hansberry 38). Due to his poor economic conditions, Walter

In his essay he disagreed with Lincoln’s pig story and proved how Lincoln’s act should be counted as an altruistic act. In Lincoln’s tale, he saves a piglet and a passenger comments that it was very altruistic of him; however, Lincoln refuses and explains why even though he saved the piglet the act was still very selfish. He describes that his act should not be considered as altruistic because he helped the piglet so that he does not have to carry the burden of guilt and can have peace of mind. However, in the essay Feinberg contradicts Lincoln and explains why receiving pleasure in return of an act does not make the act a selfish act. In his essay he argues that “in the supposition that the apparently unselfish desire to benefit others is transformed into a selfish one by the fact that we derive pleasure from carrying it” (Psychological Egoism) is not true. Joel Feinberg explains that receiving pleasure after doing something good for someone else should be considered as byproduct or consequence as long as the intention was to do a good deed it should be considered as an altruistic

Philosophers have debated for centuries the question “Are humans are selfish or selfless?” There are two main arguments for debating human nature, ethical egoists and ethical altruists. Ethical egoists believe that “even though we can act in others’ interests because we are concerned for others, we ought always to act in our own interest” (Solomon et al 2012 p. 460). Ethical altruists believe quite the opposite; ethical altruism is the belief that “people ought to act with each other’s interests in mind” (Solomon et al 2012 p. 461). In discussing the four theories, psychological egoism, psychological altruism, ethical egoism, and ethical altruism, with my husband, there was not a clear dividing line for whether humans are selfish or selfless in nature. After much debate, we concluded that humans are born ethical egoists; however, ethical altruists are made through proper training, care, and nurture.

Fiske, S. T. (2010). Social Beings: Core Motives in Social Psychology 2nd Edition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Selfishness is defined as the act of being someone who lacks concern for others, only caring for personal gain. Often, people are selfish due to a lack of empathy, misinformation, or a lack of information. The ability of literature to have us experience different worlds through different perspectives is fairly useful for combating this. In fact, literature can shock us about the idea of selfishness and give us pause and new insights into it, if not necessarily cause us to realize our own lack of selflessness and shock us out of it.

     The descriptive claim made by Psychological Egoists is that humans, by nature, are motivated only by self-interest. Any act, no matter how altruistic it may seem on the outside is actually only a disguise for a selfish desire such as recognition, avoiding guilt, reward or sense of personal ‘goodness’ or morality. For example, Mother Teresa is just using the poor for her own long-term spiritual gain. Being a universal claim, it could falter with a single counterexample. And being that I believe this claim to be bunk I will tell you why!

“People act for many reasons; but for whom, or what, do or should they act—for themselves, for God, or for the good of the planet?” (Moseley) An egoist would argue that one acts for one’s own self. More specifically, an ethical egoist is one who thrives to improve ones own self being, with much respect to morality. Ethical Egoism is the theory that one should pursue his or her own interest above all the rest. It is the idea that all persons should act from their own self interest in relation to morality.

Level I: Preconventional morality: People act under external controls. They obey rules to avoid punishment or reap rewards, or act out of self-interest (Papalia, Olds, & Feldman, 2004, p. 408).

There is a certain innate desire to help others, just as others will feel that same fulfillment for returning that aid. At the same time, however, there is also an inherent yearning to seek out one’s own best interest. This brings about a discussion regarding the difference between psychological egoism and ethical egoism. To understand the similarities and differences, one must first understand the two concepts including their natures, as well as their doctrines of motivation.

Self-interest plays a motivator role in morality field that makes people can consider themselves without destroying the ability of others to meet their own wants. Starting with some key terms that Smiths mentions in his books: selfishness means someone who only knows to satisfy himself without consider others’ feelings and it might deprives others’ happiness (Black 2006, p.8). Comparing to selfishness, the term ‘self-love’ means ‘pure ego’ (Fitzgibbons 1995, p.137), while the term ‘self-interest’ is an updated version of self-love, because it contains virtue and leads to self-love into a moral level (Fitzgibbons 1995,