ETHICAL EGOISM

Ethical Egoism

Ethical Egoism

Introduction

Ethical egoism (sometimes referred to as possessive egoism), with its reliance upon market signals to reflect social preferences would, at best, appear to require an ambivalent stance towards environmental issues. Another important consequentialist theory is ethical egoism, the idea that, if an act produces more happiness for oneself than will the alternatives, then it is the right thing to do, and if it produces less happiness for oneself than the alternatives, it is wrong to do it. Clearly, any well-thought-out theory of ethical egoism does not prescribe acting purely selfishly, for selfish behavior is not likely to produce the most happiness for oneself in the long run. Still, there is a difference between saying that the reason for doing something is to bring yourself happiness and saying that the reason for doing something is to bring others happiness. The latter doctrine is ethical altruism, which discounts one's own happiness as of lesser value than the happiness of others. From this perspective, utilitarianism is the middle ground, in which one's own happiness and others' happiness are treated as equally important.

Discussion

In this conception the Self is seen as a completely independent unit that must be accountable to no authority in the forming of its relationships beyond the exercise of its own volition - what it voluntary wills and wishes to do. The social provisions remaining that permit a sense of community or shared social purpose 'are assaulted as unjust restraints on liberty, impediments to the free assertion of the self'. The proper mode of living is to be oneself - to find out who one is and to let no one and nothing interfere with one's self-realisation. (Rachels 2008)

This is ethical egoism in its raw form.

From an ethical egoist perspective, market-based forms of coordination of economic and social ...