September 11‚ 2013 Psychological Egoism Psychological Egoism is the position that the ultimate motive of all actions is selfish. It is not the position that everyone should be motivated by selfish desires‚ but rather that they are motivated by selfish desires. This is supposed to be a psychological fact of human motivations. Joel Feinberg presents a multitude of arguments against psychological egoistic hedonism. There are four “arguments” which support psychological egoism: (a) “Every action of mine
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Aristotle highlights in Nicomachean Ethics‚ that moral virtue is “acquired by repetition of the corresponding acts‚” thus virtue is acquired‚ not innate (Cahn 134). By doing moral acts repeatedly one becomes wise‚ “having or showing experience‚ knowledge‚ and good judgment” therefore‚ to be virtuous an individual is requires a plethora of wisdom‚ which is not learned or taught nor inherent‚ but from the source of trial and error. Additionally‚ after virtue becomes a habit the individual would then
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Ethical egoism Explanation of the theory This moral theory states that everyone should act in their own self-interest. Even though we can act in the interests of others‚ we should always act only in our own interests. Ethical egoist may help their friends if they believe there is a long-term payoff or benefit doing so. One’s self-interest is often best followed by allowing others to pursue their self-interest as well. Sacrificing one’s short-term self-interest in order to maximize one’s long-term
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define what Utilitarianism is and from whose standpoint we are looking at this issue. John Stuart Mill‚ who studied under Jeremy Bentham (the father of Utilitarianism)‚ defined Utilitarianism as “actions are right to the degree that they tend to promote the greatest good for the greatest number (Kay 1997‚ p.7).” Racking and stacking the positives and negatives of this case would take much more than a five page paper. For the sake of time I will be covering specific parts of Utilitarianism and how the
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Psychological Egoism Psychological Egoism does not make sense because everyone does not always act in their own self-interest. The defenders of Psychological Egoism do not give us compelling reason to think that no one ever chooses to do something that is not in his own best interest. It is impossible to prove Psychological Egoism due to the principle of falsifiabilty. Psychological Egoists think human nature is completely and absolutely egoistic. They have the idea that all of our actions
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According to Aristotle‚ in order to pursue virtue we must learn to both feel and act correctly. Being a virtuous person entails being affected by pleasure and pain. In book II of “Nicomachean Ethics”‚ Aristotle begins by explaining how virtuous actions are acquired by habit. He writes‚ “Rather‚ we are by nature able to acquire them‚ and we are completed through habit” (Aristotle 18). Essentially‚ Aristotle is saying that we acquire habits as we acquire skills. Virtues are acquired through habituation and
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Psychological egoism claims that people do only act in their self-interest. Ethical egoism is the normative ethical stance that people ought to do what is in their self-interest. Although similar‚ the two beliefs are not compatible because ethical egoism‚ in order to be significant‚ must claim that people can be altruistic; otherwise it would make no sense to say that people should be selfish. Neither philosophy is very good‚ though. Both have very big problems. A major problem with psychological
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Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics goes to show that he believes that the end goal of all human actions is eudaimonia‚ or happiness through success and fulfillment. Following this concept Aristotle goes on to explain that through virtuosity a human being can lead a happy life. He defines virtue as a disposition to make the correct decisions that lead to the chief good of happiness. A perfect example is when he describes someone who does an action well as being good‚ but they are only considered good
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I believe in Ethical Egoism and think it would be the best way for people to live. If everyone believed in Ethical Egoism‚ the world would probably have better people in my opinion. With Ethical Egoism‚ a person will be able to get ahead in their own life and provide a better life for him or his family. While being an ethical egoist you can still help others so the world won’t be a completely selfish world. And combined with the social contract‚ it keeps people and things in an order. By believing
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his sacrifice saved many and he is a hero because of it. This example is just one way to show how ethical egoism is not the best possible moral philosophy to follow. One argument against ethical egoism is that the theory does not provide a way to solve conflicts of interest. For example‚ if Harris and Klebold ’s interest to kill opposes another ’s interst to live‚ then ethical egoism--by telling everyone to maximally pursue his or her own interest--does not identify some solution that people
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