Philosophy

Philosophy Study Guide

toward which ethical absolutists can point in support of their perspective. They argue based on their own lived experience, and that most people conduct themselves as though there were such a universal code. For example, most people believe that murder is wrong and that coming to the aide of someone in distress is right. Every day of your life, you make moral choices and decisions that reflect your own internal moral compass. Often, we are not aware of the deeper moral values that drive our choices, and we may even be oblivious to the fact that the choices we are making have a moral component. Philosophy plays a uniquely central role in helping us to develop enlightened values, use informal reasoning, and make well-supported conclusions. Although most areas of human study are developed to describing the world and how people behave, philosophy is concerned with helping people evaluate how the world ought to be and what courses of action people should take. 8.6 Egoism as a Universal Principle Within the general framework of ethical absolutism are many possible theories the first that we will discuss is ethical egoism. Ethical egoism is the belief that the highest moral value for all humans is to pursue their own happiness. It continues by mentioning that we act morally when we pursue our own self-interest. When our needs and interests are in conflict or competition with those of others, it is our moral obligation to take care of our own needs and interest first. The ethical egoists recognize that such a view runs counter to the prevailing moral values of many cultures, in which the respected moral values include altruism, self-sacrifice, empathy, communal responsibility, love, social responsibility to those in need, and a willingness to sacrifice our own needs for the good of the group. Ethical egoists are convinced that these traditional moral values represent a skewed and unhealthy perspective on how humans ought to think and behave. 8.7 Arguments for Egoism One of the first ethical egoist perspectives was found in Plato’s Republic and is called the Myths of Gyges . In this writing, Plato gives voice to his ethical egoist view through the person of Glaucon. Here, Glaucon tries to convince Socrates that pursuing our own self-interest is our natural condition, and rather than denying this fact, we should embrace it. Glaucon begins his case with a proposed analysis of origins of justice. The version he is presenting has come to be known as the social contract theory. The social contract theory is the view that the main reason people agree to form political communities is out of necessity, because life in a pre-political state of nature would be, though preferable extremely difficult. In the social contract theory, the view is that humans assume we are by nature solitary, aggressive and competitive and it is in our nature to promote our own interests over those of others and even inflect harm on them if it will advance our desires. We realize that we are vulnerable to being victimized by others and as a result, we enter into a social agreement with others, promising not to hurt or take advantage of them if they won’t take advantage of or hurt us. Glaucon’s next view is that although people have entered into a social contract to escape the danger

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