Ethic Theory and Practice

In the first five chapters of Ethics Theory And Practice there are four main types of theories Ethical Egoism, Utilitarianism, Kantian Ethics, and Virtue Ethics. I will be presenting and reacting to each of these different Ethics, and presenting my own approach to Ethics.

In the second chapter of our book Ethics Theory And Practice It discuses ethical egoism and utilitarianism. Ethical Egoism is a theory that states that everyone should act in their own self interest. Ethical Egoism can take three forms: Individual ethical egoism, which states that everyone ought to act in my own self interest. Which obviously can’t work because not everyone is thinking about just one person. The next possible form it can take is personal ethical egoism, which states that I ought to act in my own self interest, but I make no claims about what anyone else ought to do. Which also in my opinion doesn’t work because there is always people helping others. The book states that another problem with such individualistic systems is that they fail to take into consideration the fact that human beings are not isolated from each other and that the moral and immoral actions of all persons affect other people around them. The last form of ethical egoism is Universal ethical egoism, which states as its basic principle that everyone should act in his or her own best self interest, regardless of the interest of others, unless their interests also serve his or hers. The book states that this theory does not state only what I should do; rather, it concerns itself with what all human beings should do if they want to be moral: they should always act in their own self-interest. In my opinion universal ethical egoism is selfishness because even if its not acting selfish it is still being selfish. The book gives a good example of an inconsistency that Universal Ethical Egoism has. It states that suppose, however, that Tom is acting in his own self-interest, which is not in the ethical