RE- ethical egoism

• Ethical Egoism- Stirner

  German philospher. Wants to remove god or any external power and put the individual there instead.

  Ethics= fulfilling the desire of your ego
• Ethical Egoism- Altruism

  Morality demands we are uselfish and think about concerns of others. e.g give money- homeless, donate blood

  he disagrees with altruism- argue in reality altruism is false. Altruism= illusion. Humans- incapable of being selfish, only care for ourselves.
• Ethical Egoism- Motive

  All human actions- motivated by self-interest. Psychological egoism describes how we act. describes what we do, not tell us what we ought to do. Claims self-interest=natural. Donate money= feel good. Is there any good deeds that aren't selfish?
• Ethical Egoism- Ethical

  ee claims self-interest is good.

  1. Only duty is yourself- we follow our own interest-no one else's. Actions become right if it benefits you
  2. Can help others- dont avoid helping others- if your self-interest coincides with others you help them. Helping others may benefit you in the future.
  3. Long term goals- not about instant pleasure promotes long term goals. e.g cigarettes doesnt benefit in the long run so its not ethical.
• Ethical egoism- normative

  ee goes one step further and tells us what we should do = normative ethical theory
• Ethical egoism-alliance

  Is ee lonely ?- you only look after yourself. Stirner believed ethical egoists should form an alliance with each other= union of egoists.
• Ethical egoism- materialism

  Western society is driven by need to acquire material goods. e.g faster car- think material goods makes them happy. Stirner is against this. Egoism is not about getting more stuff
• Ethical egoism- equality

  no hierarchy-where some are more important than others. Egoism demands freedom. Freedom = sharing your power
• Ethical egoism-weakness 1 


  IT DESTROYS SENSE OF COMMUNITY

  Cuts our links with other people. Morality= whats best for me, not you.

  We have nothing in common with others than self-interest. Community is just people using eachother.

  Cannot live in common- if the whole society followed egoism then surely law and order would break down. My self-interest is not the same as your self-interest, we will end up fighting.
• Ethical egoism- weakness 2

  CAUSES SOCIAL INJUSTICE

  ee allows unfair and wrong actions to happen.

  People in society are treated unequally as we all end up putting our self-interest first.

  If we were to follow ee it would create a 'dog-eat-dog' world of fear, corruption and injustice where only the strongest or most dishonest survive.
• ethical egoism- weakness 3

  A FORM OF BIGOTRY

  A bigot is a prejudiced and intolerant person.

  They make judgements about others for no good reason.

  ee is like racism in that both divide the world up into 'in' and 'out' groups with no sensible reason.

  Simply making a decision that my pleasure is more valid than yours. This is an arbiatry choice and is a form of bigotry.
• ethical egoism- strength 1

  ITS NATURAL

  In our nature to act in our self interest. Its as if we are hardwired to be selfish and cant do anything about it .

  Psychological egoism says we naturally act in our best-interest- this is a result of only the strongest survive.

  EE is based on the fact, if we do something unselfish such as giving money to charity.The motive is still selfish.

  You feel good doing it - maybe we want others to think well of us
• ethical egoism-strength 2

  EASY AND REALISTIC

  Do whats best for you.

  Most realistic as its a moral code anyone can live by.

  No-one knows whats better for me than i do
• Ethical egoism-strength 3

  ALSO BENEFIT OTHERS

  The interest of others are also mine.

  If im honest with others, they'll be honest with me and we will live in harmony.

  If i give money to charity, im less likely to have money stolen from me by a poor person as there will be less poor people.

  better i treat others the better i will be treated