Abraham Lincoln was once caught in a dilemma. He had seen some pigs caught in a slough and needed to decide whether he should help them or not. Lincoln chose to get the pigs unstuck, and when asked how this action could be taken by an egoist, Lincoln responded by saying that he "should have no peace of mind all day had [he] gone and left that suffering old sow worrying over those pigs. [He] did it to get peace of mind." As a psychological egoist would see it, Abraham Lincoln was acting selfishly. James Rachels refutes this in his piece Egoism and Moral Skepticism and says that Lincoln was not acting selfishly at all. In this case and in many like it, psychological egoism does not hold up, and since moral theories need to be universally applicable, James Rachels is correct in stating that psychological egoism is false. .
The story above shows a situation where a person acts selfishly in order to produce satisfaction. Rachels calls this the second argument for psychological egoism stating, "Since so-called unselfish actions always produce a sense of self satisfaction in the agent, and since this sense of satisfaction is a pleasant state of consciousness, it follows that the point of the action is really to achieve a pleasant state of consciousness, rather than bring about any good for others" (Rachels 1971). Everyone would agree that we can be motivated to act according to our own self-interests and there are also instances where we may think that our actions are in the interests of others. The psychological egoist would show that even in those instances where we believe we are acting unselfishly, our motivation for acting that way is the sense of satisfaction and the rewards that we receive from helping others. In Lincoln's situation, the egoist would say that Lincoln did not want to help the pigs because it was the right thing to do, instead, he helped the pigs because he prevented himself from feelings of guilt and because Lincoln would have gotten a better image in the community if he had seen him helping the pigs.
Psychological egoism is a reflex that every person has to orient themselves toward their own welfare. ... Psychological Egoism is the claim that humans by nature are motivated only by self-interest. ... It will be difficult to find an action that the psychological egoist will acknowledge as purely altruistic, however. ... Yet, it's not the brutality usually ascribed to egoism. ... Two asides on the topic of egoism. ...
Egoism There is no word more generally misinterpreted than the word egoism, in its current use. ... Psychological egoism is a reflex that every person has to orient themselves toward their own welfare. ... But it will be difficult to find an action that a psychological egoist will acknowledge as purely unselfishness. ... Overall, psychological egoism can explain any action with a selfish motivation. ...
In The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, deep philosophical undertones are explored, including the struggle between psychological egoism and ethical egoism, the power of words, and human nature. ... John Archie defines what psychological egoism is on his philosophy website "The doctrine that everyone acts from the motive of self-interest. ... By definition Max's disregard for his family in time of distress is an example of egoism. ... This demonstrates another type of philosophy, ethical egoism, "While psychological egoism purports to tell us how people do in fact behave, ethical e...
This ties into psychological and ethical egoism. Ethical egoism is the position that moral agents ought to do what is in their own self-interest. It differs from psychological egoism, which claims that people can only act in their self-interest. Ethical egoism holds that actions whose consequences will benefit the doer can be considered ethical. ...
CIVIL RIGHTS: Those rights that are determined by a particular state and its laws; constitutional rights, guaranteed by the law of the land. PSYCHOLOGICAL EGOISM: The thesis that people always act for their own self interest even when it seem their not. Ex. Giving to charity UTILITARIANISM: T...
Two consequentialist theories are important and they are ethical egoism and utilitarianism. Egoism asks to consider the consequences of actions for one person whereas utilitarianism considers the consequences for everybody meaning that if one person gets in trouble then everybody is in trouble. Psychological egoism is a theory of human nature concerned with how people behave. Psychological egoism defines the possibility of nonselfish behavior. Ethical egoism is a theory of self-interest. ...
Two consequentialist theories are important and they are ethical egoism and utilitarianism. Egoism asks to consider the consequences of actions for one person whereas utilitarianism considers the consequences for everybody meaning that if one person gets in trouble then everybody is in trouble. Psychological egoism is a theory of human nature concerned with how people behave. Psychological egoism defines the possibility of nonselfish behavior. Ethical egoism is a theory of self-interest. ...
