Examples Of Ethical Egoism

Ethical Egoism is “the doctrine that each person ought to pursue his or her own self-interest exclusively” (Rachels 71). With Ethical Egoism, we ought to do what is in our own self-interest, instead of trying to do what is in. While we are exclusively pursuing our own interests, we can still help people because in many ways, when you help yourself, you are also in a way helping others who are benefiting from your rewards. Rachels uses the explanation of when you convince a teacher to cancel an assignment, you are helping not only yourself, but also the rest of the class. While Ethical Egoism is about pursing your self-interests, the focus of it is long-term interest not short-term interest such as “smoke cigarettes, or bet all his money at the racetrack, or set up a meth lab in his basement” (Rachels
This is different from Ethical Egoism because Ethical Egoism is the idea that everyone ought to promote our own self-interests and pursue our own interests exclusively. Rachels summarizes this extremely effectively, saying, “Psychological Egoism makes a claim about human nature, or the way things are; Psychological Egoism makes a claim about morality, or about the way things should be” (Rachels 66). Psychological Egoism believes that there is always a hidden motive of self-interest behind every action, meaning that there are no altruism or selfless giving. Rachels used an example of a man, Raoul Wallenberg from Sweden who willingly moved to Hungary in 1944 in order to stop the mass slaughter of innocent people, and save lives. Although his fate was admirable, and seemingly altruistic, Psychological Egoism would disagree. He went far away from his own self-interest and risked his life to help others. Psychological Egoism insists that Wallenberg was not altruistic, instead he was doing what he wanted to do, and even perhaps he was seeking recognition for his actions