Psychological Egoism Research Paper

Psychological egoism is the theory that voluntary actions are always motivated by a reward to oneself, whether directly or indirectly. Some people immediately object to the theory because there are plenty of cases where people help others when there seems to be no reward. A proponent of psychological egoism would stress that there seems to be no reward, and that the person is in fact benefiting in some way. In many cases, the proponent of psychological egoism would offer that the "good feeling" a person gets after helping someone is the reward they were seeking, and thus the reason they helped the other person. Another possibility is that a person will help someone else because he or she sees some future benefit for helping, such as future
I can see how, at first glance, the example of the soldier seems to disprove psychological egoism. The soldier does not receive any kind of permanent reward nor does he protect his desire for self-preservation. And even though you cannot measure feelings, does the soldier not have them? When I think of "some good to himself," I cannot help but wonder what is meant by some good. Does the reward for an action need to be something tangible? The problem arises because we are not in the state of nature, but rather, have been reared in a society that values human life. We are taught important moral values from childhood on, helping form a conscience that tells us right from wrong. A common value is that we should protect loved ones, including friends and comrades. The soldier then, is able to act without thinking because the action complies with the moral code the soldier has developed in his life. Even though he cannot enjoy it, the action is motivated by his desire to not allow his comrades to die. This desire, although altruistic on the surface, can be seen from a self-interested perspective if you factor in the compliance to a moral code. Just because an act is motivated by self-interest does not mean that it cannot benefit others as well. Psychological egoism can be defended from the counterexamples of altruism by several methods. One defense, as stated before, is the compliance to some sort of moral code that has been established within individuals of a society. Also, a person may perform an apparent act of altruism because they expect to benefit in the future. For example, a person could call the owner of a lost wallet, not to truly help the other person, but in hopes of a reward for the good deed. This is because a helping act creates a debt