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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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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Egoism and Altruism | Psychological egoism claims that whatever we do‚ we do out of self-interest. Give an example of an act you think is not done out of self-interest‚ and explain how the psychological egoist might try to interpret that act as selfish. Respond in approximately 100 words. Respond to at least two of your fellow students’ postings by Day 7. From my understanding is that nothing is done with out self-interested applied. So my example is harder to come up with now but I will
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Psychological Egoism: Fact or Fiction?? 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
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Utilitarianism as an ethical theory Utilitarianism is the view that an act is right if it equals the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. Utilitarians describe moral actions as actions that boost something good and lessen something that is bad. Virtue‚ knowledge‚ and goodwill are all good but they are only good if they give people a pleasurable existence. Pain is the only thing that is intrinsically bad. Utilitarians focus on the result of an act instead of the inherent
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different ethical theories that ethicists use to make decisions. If an alien civilization were to come to Earth and offer a cure for all human diseases‚ but would only do it if they were allowed to choose 10‚000 involuntary human subjects for experiments that were most likely harmful‚ different theories would offer different explanations of why they think this situation is morally right or wrong. Two important theories that ethicists could use to help them make this decision are Ethical Relativism
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Utilitarianism Utilitarianism the ethical doctrine of the greatest happiness of the greatest number should be the criterion of the virtue of action. The principle that utilitarianism use in making moral decisions is a form of moral hedonism; that people should seek pleasure and avoid pain. Utilitarianism seeks to produce the greatest good for the greatest number. But‚ the problem is in determining what the greatest good is. Utilitarian define the “good” as good is what equates pleasure and reduces
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Psychological Egoism Generally‚ every society has certain actions that are agreed upon as either being selfish or selfless. Psychological egoists try to raise questions about whether selflessness is even a possibility. James Rachel on the other hand tries to refute their argument. He believes that psychological egoism is the viewpoint that everything you do is selfish‚ because the motive behind any action is your own self-interest. (Sumner‚ pg.75) James Rachel mentions two arguments made by a psychological
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theory of Utilitarianism The theory of Utilitarianism takes its name from the Latin word Utilis‚ meaning ‘useful’. It was first developed by Jeremy Bentham‚ a philosopher and legal theorist of the 18th century. Bentham sought to produce a modern and rational approach to morality which would suit the changing society of the industrial age. This was also the era of the French and American Revolutions‚ and of the Enlightenment‚ so orthodox morality was challenged on many fronts. Utilitarianism may be
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psychological egoism ` the argument of psychological egoism states that"people always (and neccesarily) act to promote what they take to be in their self interest whether it be short term or long term" which i believe to be true for various reasons. one main reason is this theory does not claim that people always act to actually promote their self interest short or long term. therefore this theory seems to be an explanition of actions that individuals have. the term self interest to me is defined
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