Ethical Egoism
Ethics is defined by Douglas Birsch, author of the book Ethical Insights, as “the investigation into how we ought to live.” He also points out that the part of ethics that is discussed most often is how to live successfully with other people. It is impossible for a person to live their entire life without having to interact with other people. The interaction of people in a particular place with one another creates a society. In a society where humans interact with one another there tends to be conflicts among individuals. Conflicts between “right” and “wrong”, or “good” and “bad.” These conflicts are moral dilemmas and the outcome of the solutions will affect the lives of the individuals involved. Some conflicts will affect a person’s life more than other conflicts, but all solutions require reasoning behind the choices made. The ability to reason and think critically is what separates humans form animals. A rational mind is the backbone to the theories in ethics. There are several ethical theories that are practiced around the world and are the subject to debates everywhere. Ethical theories provide a guideline on how moral dilemmas should be handled. Some of these theories are Devine Command T
heory, which says we ought to live life by following God’s Commandments. There is Utilitarianism, which believes a person should live life in a way that produces the most “good” in society. There is the Ethics of Care, which is concerned with the personal relationships between individuals. There is Kantian Ethics, which believes there are moral laws that apply to everyone. If a person follows a particular ethical theory, they are said to be living a moral life. So which theory is the one that is the best for a person to follow? I will be discussing the theory of Ethical Egoism. Ethical Egoism believes that individuals should live their life concentrating of whatever brings the most benefit to that individual. If it brings benefit it is good, if it brings harm, it is bad. A person’s moral duty is to maximize net benefit and minimize net harm to them. Ethical egoists would argue that people are naturally inclined to act on their own self-interest, so the theory doesn’t require a person to make a drastic change in the way they live their life. It is based on rationality, so a person doesn’t have to make a “leap of faith” into ethical egoism. A person just has to embrace their selfishness and make decisions based on rational thinking. When a person is confronted with a dilemma they are naturally inclined to determine which action to take according to what will benefit them the most. For example, when a person is faced with the dilemma of getting up and going to work in the morning. The person chooses to get up and got to work because it will benefit them financially, because they have bills to pay. And because they wouldn’t want to look bad in fr
Some topics in this essay:
Ethical Egoism,
Ethical Insights,
Kantian Ethics,
ethical egoism,
Commandments Utilitarianism,
Ethics Care,
Command Theory,
Douglas Birsch,
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own self-interest,
benefit individual,
,
own self-interest person,
moral dilemmas,
determine consequences,
brings benefit,
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individual determine,
ethical theories,
act own self-interest,
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Approximate Word count = 1141
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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