Egoism Essay Example For Students

Egoism Essay EgoismPsychological egoism is a reflex that every person has to orientthemselves toward their own welfare. Through this, it follows that every one ofhis (or her) voluntary actions is some good to himself. If someone gives awaythe last piece of bread to someone else, it is because they want to look like abetter person. Due to the fact that they would give away the last piece of bread. Human nature is completely and exclusively egoistic. People are entirelyselfish and devoid of any genuine feelings of sympathy, benevolence, orsociability. They are always thinking of themselves in everything they do. Each individual is preoccupied exclusively with the gratification ofpersonal desires (felicity or happiness).Ones success in maintaining acontinuous flow of gratification is the means of ones happiness. The object of the voluntary acts of every man is some good to himself. Whenever man renounces his right it is either in consideration for some rightreciprocally transferred to himself, or for some other good he hopes for fromthe outcome. This presents us with the old saying: Do unto others as you wouldwant them to do unto you. Social organization originates out of self interest. All society is forgain, or for glory. It is not like we think it is—for love of our fellows. Instead it is for self preservation. It is a sort of social contract. In a stateof nature we are at war with each other and life is solitary, poor, nasty,brutish, and short. In a natural state individuals are in equal powers. Voluntary collective organization is the most effective way for individuals toutilize their powers. Man should be allowed the right to use all means or actions to preservehimself. For every man is desirous of what is good to him, and shuns what isevil, but chiefly the chiefest of natural evil, which is death. The right tobear arms. In conclusion, I would like to say that?Psychological Egoism This is the claim that humans by nature aremotivated only by self-interest . Any act, no matter how altruistic it mightseem, is actually motivated by some selfish desire of the agent (e.g., desirefor reward, avoidance of guilt, personal happiness). This is a descriptive claimabout human nature. Since the claim is universalall acts are motivated by selfinterestit could be proven false by a single counterexample (Weston, rule #11). It will be difficult to find an action that the psychological egoistwill acknowledge as purely altruistic, however. There is almost always somebenefit to ourselves in any action we choose. For example, if I helped my friendout of trouble, I may feel happy afterwards. But is that happiness the motivefor my action or just a result of it? Perhaps the psychological egoist fails todistinguish the beneficial consequences of an action from the self-interestedmotivation. After all, why would it make me happy to see my friend out oftrouble if I didnt already have some prior concern for my friends bestinterest? Wouldnt that be altruism?Egoism versus altruismThe second issue I want to explore is egoism versus altruism. Altruism holds each man as his brothers keeper; in other words, weare each responsible for the health and well-being of others. Clearly, this is asimple statement of the safety-net theory from above. This is incompatiblewith individualism, yet many people who are basically individualists upholdaltruism as the standard of morality. Whats going on?The problem is wide-spread confusion over the meanings of altruismand egoism.The first confusion is to confound altruism with kindness, generosity,and helping other people. Altruism demands more than kindness: it demandssacrifice. The billionaire who contributes $50,000 to a scholarship fund is notacting altruistically; altruism goes beyond simple charity. Altruism is thegrocery bagger who contributes $50,000 to the fund, foregoing his own collegeeducation so that others may go. Parents who spend a fortune to save their dyingchild are helping another person, but true altruism would demand that theparents spend their money to save ten other ch ildren, sacrificing their ownchild so that others may live. Essay on The Growth of Social Networking Sites EssayTo remain alive, he must think. But to think is an act of choice. Reason does not work automatically;thinking is not a mechanical process; the connections of logic are not made byinstinct. The function of your stomach, lungs or heart is automatic; thefunction of your mind is not. In any hour and issue of your life, you are freeto think or to evade that effort. But you are not free to escape from yournature, from the fact that reason is your means of survival-so that for you, whoare human being, the question to be or not to be is the question to thinkor not to think.You need ethics because you need values to survive, and you can onlydiscover those values through a volitional process of reason. Ethics, to Rand,was a code of values to guide mans choices and actions-the choices andactions which determine the purpose and the course of his life.Given that Rand held that values are rooted in the individuals struggleto survive, egoism follows naturally. As an ethical theory, egoism holds thatthe primary beneficiary of an a ction should be the actor. The primary goal ofeach individual should be to act to achieve personal happiness. The happiness offamily and friends are important to the egoist, but only in so far as it givespleasure in return. Being around a bunch of happy, mentally healthy people is areal joy; being around a bunch of complainers isnt. That selfishness implies acting for your own sake is usually understood;often misunderstood, however, is that this does not reveal which actions are, infact, in your self interest. Rand rejected the view that lying to, stealing from,and subjugating others is acting selfishly; she held that these activitiesin fact are not values-that they do not lead to a happy life. Rand listed a number of important values-productivity, honesty, pride-that make up the good life. An important one in understanding that selfishnessdoes not involve preying on others is independence. Independence has two aspects. The first is mental: you must think foryourself, you must come to your own conclusions, and you must follow thoseconclusions into action. You must never subordinate your own grasp of reality toanything: society, peers, tradition, authority. Howard Roark, the hero of TheFountainhead, is the symbol of this. The second aspect of independence is existential: you must embrace thelaw of causality in your own life. You must take responsibility for your actions,which means: you must take the responsibility for achieving your own life andfor all the actions you take in doing so. This is a two-way street: you getcredit for the good you do and get to keep the benefits, and you get blamed forthe bad and are expected to accept the consequences. It is this noble concept of independence-the man who thinks for himselfand acts for himself and holds himself accountable for what he does-that Randheld as the truly selfish life. A final point about Rands egoism is that it rejects the need forsacrifice. Traditionally weve been given the choice of living for others (whichis altruism) or expecting others to live for us (which is calledselfishness). Rand identified a third alternative: let each man live for hisown sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor others to himself. Randheld that if (and only if) people act morally and selfishly as she defined it,there is a harmony of interests among men that makes peace, benevolence, and,ultimately, general prosperity possible. Philosophy Essays