September 23‚ 2010 An Argument against Egoism 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
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Psychological Egoism is the idea that only self-interest motivates human action. For psychological egoism‚ we want to make ourselves as well off as we can be. According to this theory‚ there is only one thing that motivates humans and that is self-interest. To agree with psychological egoism‚ means you cannot be altruistic‚ the idea that humans can have an ulterior motive‚ as it is just simply human nature. The Expected Benefit argument claims that only self-interest motivates human action. I believe
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paper will examine this interplay within the paradigm of egoism. First‚ this paper will define the subsets of egoism‚ the reasons for and against its argumentation‚ and finally the consequences of accepting either psychological egoism or ethical egoism. Egoism is the idea that the ultimate moral motivation for humans is self-interest. There are two main distinctions
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as it is‚ cannot hold up the self-reliance argument let alone ethical egoism. If John‚ an elderly man‚ was walking in the park and had a fall‚ would he be better off if Jill‚ a bystander‚ just continued on her way? She was running late to work and could easily tend to her own needs leaving John on the ground moaning in pain. The second premise‚ “We ought to do what will make everyone better off.” may be true‚ but it does not support ethical egoism. It is really a utilitarian claim; utilitarians
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Egoism This advocates that each person should his or her own well fair as a supreme end of his/her actions. Thomas Hobbs and exponent of egoism portrayed as rational self interested and calculating. This view is often referred as psychological. Hobbs regarded people as predatory he felt that morality was to avoid conflict. Ethical egoism emphasizes everyone ought to act out of self interest in terms in achieving selfish ends in terms of the survival of the fittest in a society. Future more apparently
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Wrong‚ in addition to the four arguments supporting ethical egoism‚ there are five arguments against it. I will present these in the same manner as the others. The first argument against ethical egoism comes from Brian Medlin and it is “The Inconsistent Outcomes Argument”. This argument claims the theory of ethical egoism cannot be true because it fails to meet a necessary condition of morality—namely‚ being a guide to action. The second argument is the “Publicity Argument”. It states that “…an egoist
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personal interests‚ whether or not we are conscious of it. The five arguments against ethical egoism is plausible. Inconsistent outcome argument simply tries to prove that ethical egoism cannot be true because it fails to meet the necessary condition of morality which is being a guide to action. Publicity argument says that egoist’s egoistic project cannot be publicly advertised without harming the project itself. Paradox of Ethical Egoism says that for an egoist to achieve something‚ he must give up his
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Ethical Egoism (Prescriptive Theory) * -Normative Theory * -EE Defined * -Difference from psychological egoism -Why many philosophers reject EE * Argument from paradigm cases- standard argument against EE. Ex: (1) If a moral theory requires you to do “x” where ”x” is a paradigm case of wrongness just because it benefits you‚ then that moral theory is false.(2) EE requires you to do “x” where ‘x’ is morally wrong‚ just because it benefits you.(3) EE is false. (I.e.: murder‚
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Ethical Egoism is a theory that could affect us all in our daily lives. Have you ever donated to charity or helped someone less fortunate than yourself? If you have you could say that you took part in Ethical Egoism Theory. An example of a modern version of Ethical Egoism is a project taking place in Fort Worth. The City of Fort Worth is making an effort to hire and house homeless people that reside in the city‚ to reduce their homeless population. In doing so they are employing the homeless
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Factors For and Against Marijuana should be legalized in the United States. Reasons for legalization (ranked from strongest to weakest) 1. Medical benefits for terminal illnesses such as cancer. 2. Police and court resources would be freed to pursue more serious crimes. 3. The FDA could regulate the quality and safety of the drug. 4. This drug has fewer side effects that most currently legal narcotics. 5. Legalization would lower prices‚ thereby reducing crimes such as theft. 6
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