The Choice is Ours

Who is looking out for number one? Everyone has to look out for his or herself. We must be in charge of our own well-being. We are innately conscientious of our own welfare. It is known as Egoism. The experts take it one step further and break Egoism up into many different theories. Two theories to explore are those of Ethical and Psychological Egoism. While the experts explore their meanings and theories of Egoism, the rest of us just call it survival.

First, we need to know what we are talking about. The first thing we need to do is understand is Egoism? According to the Encarta Online Dictionary, Egoism is the "pursuit of your own welfare and interests;" in Philosophy "making personal welfare and interest your primary or only concern, sometimes at the expense of others;" and in ethics "the belief that the correct basis for a moral code is every person's concern for his or her own best interest, or the doctrine supporting this belief." There are many varieties of egoism and the next step is to understand each of them. With the different divisions of egoism, Ethical Egoism and Psychological Egoism are just two focuses of many experts. According to James Rachels, "Ethical Egoism is the idea that each person ought to pursue his or her own self-interest exclusively" (Rachels, 2003, p.77). In other words, Ethical Egoism is based upon the principle that a person must to do what best for him or herself and not worry about others. Turning again to James Rachels for a definition of Psychological Egoism, he states that, "... Psychological Egoism, every action is motivated by self-interest." (Rachels, 2003, p.64). Basically, everything that a person does, or does not do, is based purely on the belief that it is done for selfish reasons and that alone.

In the theories of Psychological Egoism, loop-holes have been identified, but not solved. There is still some debate as to the validity its various theories. Any of its theories is difficult to prove, and just as hard to disprove; herein establishing its fallacy or fault. Psychological Egoism relies on the theory of self motivation, which can be defined by either personal or moral terms of the individual. Due to this, the theory of Psychological Egoism cannot be proved or disproved since there is no true scale on which to measure its fallacy. Each person has their own reasons for their actions and something that may prove to be innocence of one, could be construed otherwise by others; all because of this flaw in the theory.

With every theory, there are strengths and weaknesses and Ethical Egoism is no different. The strong version of Ethical Egoism states actions that make a person feel good about oneself could quite often be the "right" thing to do. The theory uses a person's personal hierarchy of importance as the basis for their decisions as to what is best for themselves. A person needs to look at what they feel they must do to take care of themselves and then choose the most important to take care of first and continue from there. These actions could be based on a number of reasons, their own morality and beliefs for instance. Something that may feel right for one may not be so for another person. A person can be stimulated by more than just for the need for personal pleasure or for pain. Whereas, the weak version says that it is right to promote one's own good, but that there are also times that promoting one's own good is not right.

The need for personal pleasure or pain can be considered a weakness as well. It could make a person appear self-centered and have a negative impact on those around them. It could also be misconstrued as not being considerate of the feelings of others because someone is doing their good deed to just receive the title of being a "good person." Since Ethical Egoism is the theory that we all do things that ought to be in our own best interests, who is to say that what is in the best interest of one is what is in the best interest of another. Self-awareness is key; aware of what is best for themselves, there is no one better to do that. What is sometimes good for one is not always good for another. The hierarchy of importance to get things done takes precedence over the self gratification to get things done for oneself. The idea is that we do things for ourselves based on that it is done with no real compensation to ourselves.

Ethical and Psychological Egoism are so similar, but they are also different. As a person is looking out for number one, are they doing this because they should or because they want to do it? The theory behind Ethical Egoism is that we should do things for ourselves because we should be taking care of ourselves and making sure that we getting what we need. Psychological Egoism is the theory that we only do something to make ourselves happy, for our own self interests, because we want to. So, need or want, those are the differences between the two theories. It can be said that the thought of Ethical Egoism is based on morality rather than selfishness. When a person feels that they should do something, some theorists believe that they do it because they are conscious of others around them. While others believe that a person does something for themselves based on the idea that they want to do and they are acting selfishly.

Each theory has its own doctrine, or set of principles, that set the basis of many debates. The theories of Ethical Egoism and Psychological Egoism are no different in that respect. The Philosophy Department at Lander University listed their theories for of these doctrines. "Ethical egoism the normative or prescriptive doctrine that each individual should seek as an end only his own welfare. The idea is that an individual's own welfare is the only thing that is ultimately valuable for that individual."
"Psychological egoism is the empirical doctrine that the determining motive of every voluntary action is a desire for one own welfare. Even though all actions are self-interested actions, people usually conceal the determining motives for their actions because such concealment is usually in their self-interest."

These theories discuss the aspects of egoism. There is a marked difference between the Ethical and Psychological Egoism. They both deal with self interest and survival. Ethical Egoism uses the bases of a person's need to do what is in their best interest, where psychological is the need for self gratification in the a person's best interest.

The line is fine between them, Ethical and Psychological, but the actual reasoning behind what a person does is all based on the morals, judgments and beliefs of the person(s) taking part in the action. If we only do things for the benefit to ourselves; that is the only reason for our motivation. The choice is individual, the act is purely self-motivational, whether it is to fill a need to survive or a need to feel good about ourselves, and the choice lies only with the one that makes it.

References:

Rachels, James. (2003). The elements of moral philosophy (4th ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill.

Psychological Egoism from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, retrieved on August 25, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_egoism

Ethical Egoism from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, retrieved on August 25, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical_egoism

Psychological Egoism. Retrieved on August 25, 2006, from http://photomatt.net/2003/04/10/psychological-egoism/

Philosophy 302: Ethics Psychological Egoism. Retrieved on August 25, 2006, from
http://philosophy.lander.edu