Ethical Egoism

Ethical egoism is the normative ethical position that moral agents ought to do what is in their own self-interest (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy). According to the well known American novelist, screenwriter and philosopher Ayn Rand, ethical egoism is the only philosophy that allows for the integrity of a particular person to be preserved along with the reality of that individual. She stamps on the fact that a person will be able to lead a superlative life if he or she is able to follow the principles of an ethical egoist.

Egoism is an ethical theory that treats the interest of an individual to be the motivation of an individual and the ultimate goal of his or her actions. It considers the selfishness of an individual as the foundation of morality. The word “egoism” is derived from the Latin word “ego” which means “I” in English. In philosophy, egoism is of two variants, namely the descriptive and the normative position. The normative variant suggests that an individual’s motivation should not be effected by the surrounding influences. Two forms of normative egoism are the ethical egoism and the rational Egoism. Ethical egoism states that an action should be morally and ethically correct while it maximizes one’s self-interest (Dr. Charles Kay). Although there are many other variations of egoism other than the one discussed above, but for the sake of what my topic is concerned with, I am going to discuss more elaborately what the ethical egoism of the normative ethical position states, and how it contradicts with the moral duties of every individual of being compassionate to other beings.

As mentioned above, ethical egoist has to take into account the consequences of their action, whether it is morally correct or not, so that it maximizes one’s self-interest; but there are possibilities other than maximizing their own interest, if that person believes that one ought to achieve a certain level of welfare and there is no need to achieve more than that set quantity. According to advocates of ethical egoism, we value the actions, characters or rules that help us survive. These Philosophers, do not consider the benefits of helping others. They view altruism as a hindrance to achieve one’s personal goal. But then again, they would justify why an egoist should help some other individual(s) if the loss of the egoist is small and the gain of others is large. This is because every person requires the cooperation of another individual in order to obtain some benefits to assure their own wellbeing. If a person does not give any weight to others, others will not give weight, and cooperate with that individual (The Golden Rule). But this theory does not value the benefits of helping other individuals just for the sake of creating a better and peaceful world for the future generations.

Ethical egoism is important to build up the character of an individual but it fails to address one of the most important moral duties every individual should have for others. It does not explain the benefits and the importance of being compassionate to other individuals without expecting any favor in return. All human beings are born with the capacity for compassion, and that it must be cultivated for human beings to survive and, thrive (Charter for Compassion).The ethical egoist generally favor the duties that bring the egoist the highest payoff, regardless of the consequences of the actions. An individual can be immensely successful if he/she lives the life of an ethical egoist, but if one ought to truly live a morally good and compassionate life, that individual should learn the importance of helping others who are really in need.

Works Cited:

"Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.

"Varieties of Egoism." Dr. Charles Kay » Egoism. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.

"Ethical Egoism." Ethical Egoism. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.

"My Wish: The Charter for Compassion." Karen Armstrong:. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.

“The Charter for Compassion.” N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.