Philosophy

Philosophy Study Guide

and instability of the state of nature, they do so reluctantly. Abiding by laws of the social contract runs counter to our nature to dominate and exploit others for our own personal advancement. If we had the opportunity to break laws without suffering negative consequences, all of us would leap at the chance and such behavior would be morally appropriate because we would simply be acting in accord with our universal nature. Ethical egoism should not be confused with psychological egoism, a theory that purposes to describe the way humans necessarily behave. Psychological egoism is the view that we are compelled by our psychological makeup always to pursue our self-interest above all else. The core belief of ethical egoism is that our moral obligation to pursue our own self-interest as our first priority, and when we fail to do so, our behavior is ethically inappropriate. Ayn Rand is best known for her works The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and her ethical philosophy of individualism and the virtue of selfishness. Rand rejects the view that people are compelled to seek their own self-interest and rather than articulate a descriptive theory regarding the way humans are constructed, she proposed a normative theory that expresses the way humans ought to behave. From Rand’s standpoint the code of ethics that each person is expected to create on his or her own must be objectively demonstrated and validated code of moral principles which define and determine his actual self-interest. What Rand believed is pursuing your self-interest means creating a value system that is not destructive to oneself, nor is it destructive to others. She believed that to act in one’s self-interest, implies a responsibility to act rationally, not simply satisfy whatever you might be feeling at any particular moment. 8.8 Arguments against Egoism James Rachels was a moral philosopher who wrote influential articles on applied ethics, especially euthanasia and animal rights. In his writings from Egoism and Moral Skepticism , he provides a systematic critique of both the psychological and ethical egoism views. We first look at his analysis of psychological egoism where he makes the following arguments his first argument states whatever choices people make, they are always doing what they most want to do. He then proposes two counterarguments to this: ● We often do things we do not want to do because we have made a promise or feel an obligation. ● Even if we derive some satisfaction from giving up something to help someone else this is what is mean to act unselfishly- acting to promote someone else’s interests, not just your own. The criteria for determining if an action is selfish or unselfish is the object or consequence of the action, not the satisfaction it brings to the person initiating it. We know look at Rachel’s analysis of the underlying confusion that accounts for persistence of this view: ● It is false to believe that selfishness means the same thing as self-interest. ● It is false to say that every action is done either from self-interest or from other regarding motives. ● It is false to assume that a concern for one’s own welfare is incompatible with any genuine concern for the welfare of others.

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