Preview

Why Is Ethical Egoism Wrong

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
577 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Why Is Ethical Egoism Wrong
The term Ethical Egoism is a concept that if a person only “stays in their lane” is when they will achieve the goal of being happy. This means you cannot get involved with other people's issues because that will either slow down or halt the progress of reaching your final destination (being happy). This is in my view is a very productive method to help solve moral disputes in the world. This concept can solve a lot of moral disputes because when a person gets involved in an issue that does not concern them and offends the person that is for what they are against the issue flares up and becomes more problematic than it should be. For example, if a man starts an argument with a woman about why abortion is wrong the argument can either not exist because both sides agree or the woman can be for abortion and will argue that it isn’t anybody's business what a woman does with the fetus inside her. If one party or side approached the argument with a Dogmatist attitude they will think …show more content…
This occurred because people who are using this idea lose focus on other moral boundaries and crossing them. People started to become a little too selfish to the point where they will do everything that will satisfy their needs without regard to people around. Like in the Kant essay where I spoke about means and ends, the idea that everyone should be treated as an end instead of mean has basically become non-existent. Now people are starting to use others to improve or gain something and not caring how that will affect the person they are using as a mean. In my view, Ethical Egoism has become a tool that has turned into a weapon. For example, a screwdriver was made to be used a tool the drives down screws, but now people are starting to use it as an object that can puncture the skin (a stabbing

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    In our text, it defines psychological egoism as “Human conduct is selfishly motivated and we cannot perform actions from any other motive” (Fieser, Moseley, 2012, p 1.3). I personally disagree with this line of thinking. My values and ethics and values follow the pattern of treating people the same way you wish to be treated and being honest.…

    • 360 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    James Rachel writes about ethic egoism and psychological egoism and the comparison of the two. First it is important to understand the differences’ between the two of them. Ethic Egoism is the moral theory that states we ought to act only from self-love or by a standard view of how men should act. Psychological egoism, in contrast, is a view that all men are in fact selfish and everything that they do is selfish, and the only motive used for acts is in self-interest.…

    • 165 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shoemaker Ethical Egoism

    • 349 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Ethical egoism is the view that every action is performed in order to maximize one’s own self-interest. Shoemaker argues, however, that in order for an ethical theory to be tenable it should be publicizable. He explains that ethical egoism should not be publicized, and is therefore implausible, because by working in their own best interest, ethical egoists will essentially eliminate the best outcome for themselves. When two ethical egoists act together in a way that is beneficial to themselves individually, as seen in the Prisoner’s Dilemma, their result is worse than if they had not acted to fully benefit themselves. Therefore, acting in their own self interests resulted in an outcome that actually wasn’t in their best interests. In other…

    • 349 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Psy Egoism

    • 1151 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Previously, I briefly gave a crude definition of Psychological Egoism, which I will now provide a more exhaustive explanation. Psychological Egoism is the assumed fact that the only actions people are capable of desiring and or pursuing are committed in their own self interest. Frequently, individuals appear to be acting unselfishly but in reality they are just taking these interest of others as means to promoting their own self-interest. This Alludes to the fact that an egoist believes that purely altruistic and benevolent actions do not exist. Psychological Egoism is often confused with Ethical Egoism. At first glance these two theories look very similar yet there is a major difference. Ethical egoism is the belief that all men ought to pursue their own desires and self-interest. The word “ought” in the previous sentence clearly portrays the difference of the two egoisms. A more precise sector of Psychological Egoism is hedonism. Hedonism is the belief that all individuals have one definitive motive in their own voluntary behavior, which is the desire for ones own pleasure and simultaneously avoiding unpleasant experiences. A Hedonist goal is to have the net gain of pleasure minus unpleasant experiences to be as high as possible. Another factor of Psychological Egoism is self-deception. This is the thought process…

    • 1151 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Psychological Egoism

    • 913 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Ethics is a requirement for human life. It is our means of deciding a course of action. Without it, our actions would be random and aimless. There would be no way to work towards a goal because there would be no way to pick between a limitless numbers of goals. Even with an ethical standard, we may be unable to pursue our goals with the possibility of success. To the degree which a rational ethical standard is taken, we are able to correctly organize our goals and actions to accomplish our most important values. Any flaw in our ethics will reduce our ability to be successful in our endeavors. Since psychology and morality are related, moral theories must be psychologically realistic which consequently includes behaviorally/motivationally realistic. This correlation between our cognitive processes and our resulting behavior are two variables of ethics that must be considered and thereby examined closely. While psychological egoism isn’t an ethical theory and rather discusses our motivation for certain behaviors, we still find the connection to this example and examples from previous chapters.…

    • 913 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Egoism—specifically ethical egoism—argues that our moral evaluations should be made in terms of our desires and goals. Something that promotes what I want is regarded as right; something that interferes with what I want, or prevents me from reaching my goals, is regarded as wrong.…

    • 591 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The idea of ethical egoism leads to the same idea of the “golden rule” in Hobbes’ theory. The golden rule states that you should do unto others as you would have them do unto you, while ethical egoism is used to maximize your satisfaction. Hobbes’ theory states that if you do to others as you would have them do to you then you are more likely to have people do those good things for you in return, maximizing your satisfaction and supporting the idea of ethical egoism. If one were to do bad things to others and not treat them well, then that person is more likely to have bad things done to his or herself, achieving the opposite effect of ethical egoism.…

    • 688 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Egosim

    • 273 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Psychological egoism does not imply Ethical egoism. In fact they are two different things. Psychological egoism says that we DO always act selfishly and Ethical egoism says that we SHOULD act selfishly. Psychological egoism is the belief that people are only out for themselves all the time and just trying to be. Take for example an alcoholic, does this person drink and get drunk, act out, in pure self-interest or are they doing this selfishly, with no regards to others around them. He is doing what he wants, selfishly, but not in his self interests, this does not really benefit him to do so. Ethical egoism is more of a moral thing. We should we always do what we want regardless of how it will affect others or should we think about those consequences before acting. Ethically I would think twice about drinking cause while I may get pleasure out of the act and they high I am affecting others with my loud obnoxious behavior.…

    • 273 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Ethical Egoism

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Yet while being an ethical egoist, you can still help others when your self-interest coincides with the well-beings of others. Of course no one wants to live in a cold, heartless world so by being able to still help others would stop the world from becoming completely selfish. You can give food to a homeless shelter and in return receive a gift card to your favorite store. So you got what you needed and helped you out the best and yet you were still help to someone else. Because whether it comes down to your and the person next to you giving food to the homeless, someone will benefit from doing so, so the homeless still will get fed.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    An Argument Against Egoism

    • 1742 Words
    • 7 Pages

    I shall argue that the ideas of both psychological and ethical egoism are fundamentally flawed and should not be practiced. Egoism is flawed because it ignores the fact that people have a predisposition for compassion toward others that cannot be completely expelled from their motives of action. Egoism is also flawed due to the fact that altruism cannot coexist with egoism; therefore, because there is altruism in the world, egoism cannot be practiced logically. Egoism is also flawed in that it contradicts itself within its own definition and consequently cannot hold true through the tests of real life situations.…

    • 1742 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In A Stream of Illusion by Rita Carter, illusion is defined by things we believe are there without us receiving any outside information about it. We can also receive sensory information that does not make it to consciousness and it influences how we think or feel. This then leads to the theory of “blindtouch,” “blindsmell,” and “blindsight.”…

    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    People who following ethical egoism do and view things that are in their best interest. The real argument is to decide what really is in the best interest for someone that follows ethical egoism. It does seem in the person’s best interest for them to not go against the society because that could cause legal troubles. But it also may be in the person’s best interest to treat other with respect because they could lash out at them, attach or hurt them. I believe that a person following ethical egoism would choose not to follow the society and would not choose to be racist, sexist, classist and ageist because it is in their best interest not to be hurt. I believe if giving the choice people who follow ethical egoism would choose what is best for them at the given time, and not worry about things that could happen later. If given the choice of possibly placing their selves at harm by being racist, sexist, classist and ageist or going against the society I believe in most cases they would choose to go against the society. People with tent to pick the less of two evils when place in between a rock and a hard…

    • 1086 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Juvenile Delinquency

    • 1522 Words
    • 7 Pages

    According to “Juvenile Delinquency,” under the parens patriae philosophy, minors who engage in extralegal behavior are viewed as victims of improper care, custody and treatment at home (Siegel, Welsh, Senna 16). The concept of parens patriae explains the state’s duty to protect minor children who lack proper care and custody from their parents. The occurrence of minor illegal behavior is a sign that the state should intervene. Before more serious crimes are committed, these youths should be taken care of by the state. The best interest of the minor should be at hand. Instead of being punished for their wrong doing they should be treated and steered in the right direction, away from crime. “Under the parens patriae philosophy, delinquent acts are not considered criminal violations and delinquents are not considered “criminals”.” (Siegel, Welsh, Senna 18)…

    • 1522 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    This suggests human moral choices should be made with only their own selfish interests at heart. If we do the best for ourselves, it will benefit others. The problem with this theory is that a person may have both selfish and good intentions when committing and act of kindness. Since ethical egoism only allows one option—self-interest, it is perpetuating flawed logic that would not hold up if reason is applied to the theory. Also, ethical egoism is an “arbitrary doctrine, in the same way that racism is arbitrary…” and it violates the “Principle of Equal Treatment”…

    • 891 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Marketing Plan 3D printing

    • 1060 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Objective of this marketing plan for 3D printing is to create awareness to new customers in education industry, increase market share, and provide customized value-added solution to current users.…

    • 1060 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays