Egoism SG
I. Definitions:
Psychological Egoism – the view that all human actions are at their cores pursuit of the self-interest of the agent
Ethical Egoism – the ethical position that we should all pursue our own (enlightened) self-interest
Altruism (ethical) – people ought to pursue the interests of others Which of these are descriptive and which prescriptive? II. Rachels



Egoism challenges two of our basic assumption about morality.

1. that people are obligated to consider the interests of others
2. that people can actually be motivated by a concern for others
Psychological egoism challenges the second of these assumptions; ethical egoism the first.
The myth of the Ring of Gyges raises both of these challenges. What is the myth?
Glaucon's points:
1. The virtuous man would do the same thing as the one without virtue (psychological egoism)
2. And why shouldn't he? What would be his reward, if it is not avoidance of punishment? (ethical egoism) Rachels refutes psychological egoism
It is simply a fact that people often act unselfishly. But the psychological egoist will make two sorts of replies to this fact.
Arg 1: even when acting unselfishly, the agent is doing what she wants to do.
Rachels raises problems for this argument: first, this seems false (why?) second, even if everyone always does what they want to do, what they want to do is not always what is in their own interest Arg 2: the agent derives satisfaction from acting for others, and so her action is still primarily self-interested.
Rachels responds: the problem here is that the agent feels satisfaction because she wants to help others. So her action cannot coherently be called primarily self-interested
Three confusions that lead people to accept psychological egoism:
1. The confusion of selfishness with self-interest. Clearly not all self-interested actions are