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Understanding Psychological and Ethical Egoism

The document discusses psychological egoism, which posits that all human actions are motivated by self-interest, and ethical egoism, which suggests moral decision-making should be guided by self-interest. It contrasts these theories, highlighting that ethical egoism avoids conflicts between self-interest and morality, promoting rational behavior. Examples illustrate both concepts, such as consumers fighting over scarce goods for psychological egoism and ending unsatisfactory relationships for ethical egoism.

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12 views43 pages

Understanding Psychological and Ethical Egoism

The document discusses psychological egoism, which posits that all human actions are motivated by self-interest, and ethical egoism, which suggests moral decision-making should be guided by self-interest. It contrasts these theories, highlighting that ethical egoism avoids conflicts between self-interest and morality, promoting rational behavior. Examples illustrate both concepts, such as consumers fighting over scarce goods for psychological egoism and ending unsatisfactory relationships for ethical egoism.

Uploaded by

yongkong byulkong
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

ETHICS WEEK

3
Sources of Authority:
EXTERNAL
Law, Religion, and Culture.
INTERNAL
Subjectivism, Psychological
Egoism, and Ethical Egoism
INTERNAL AUTHORITY
Psychological egoism is a theory about the
nature of human motives.

Psychological egoism suggests that all


behaviors are motivated by self-interest.
In other words, it suggests that every
action or behavior or decision of every
person is motivated by self interest. It
also suggests that every action must be
motivated by self interest. The doctrine
of selfish motivation is simply a natural
law of psychology.
Just as it is a natural law of physics
that bodies tend to move toward one
another in proportion to their masses
and at velocities inversely
proportionate to their distances from
one another, it is a natural law that all
motivations are, ultimately, selfish.
Because psychological egoism
states that every act of every
person is motivated by self-
interest, it is universal.
Because psychological egoism
states that all motivations are, in
the final analysis, selfish, it is
reductive. That is, it reduces what
seems to be a plurality or a
multiplicity of motives to a single
A contemporary example of psychological
egoism would be consumers physically
fighting with other consumers over goods
or services considered scarce or
discounted. Moreover, these consumers
revert to a natural state of survival or
primitive need for power and, therefore,
fight for toilet paper or Black Friday
super sales. By nature, self-interest
drives their actions, which demonstrates
psychological egoism.
Ethical egoism, in philosophy, an
ethical theory according to which moral
decision making should be guided
entirely by self-interest. Ethical egoism
is often contrasted with psychological
egoism, the empirical claim that
advancing one’s self-interest is the
One great advantage of ethical egoism
over other normative theories is that it
avoids any possible conflict between self-
interest and morality. Another is that it
makes moral behaviour by definition
rational (on the plausible assumption that
it is rational to pursue one’s own
Universal ethical egoism is expressed in
this principle: “All people should do what
is in their own interests.” Unlike the
individual principle, this principle is
universalizable. Moreover, many self-
interested people may be disposed to
accept it, because it appears to justify
acting on desires that conventional
A typical example of ethical egoism would
be someone ending or leaving a romantic
relationship that is no longer in their best
interest. Remaining in an unhappy or
unsatisfactory relationship for others'
sake would go against the moral claims of
ethical egoism.
Therefore, an example of ethical egoism
would be the moral pursuit of one's own
self-interest to end a romantic
relationship even if it may not be in the
best interest of a significant other or
shared child/children.

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