[AGE8 00] PRELIM: Lesson 5 Senses of the Self

Subjectivism; Psychological Egoism; Ethical Egoism

3 Theories About Ethics that Center on the Self

Subjectivism

• Which states that the individual is the sole determinant of what is morally good or bad.

• It is the recognition that the individual thinking person (the subject) is at the heart of all moral valuations.

Psychological Egoism

a theory that describes the underlying dynamic behind all human actions as a matter of a pursuit of self-interest

Ethical Egoism

which prescribes that we should make our own ends, our own interests, our single overriding concern

Good points of subjectivism

• Reflects the subjective elements of morality

• It reflects the close relationship between morality and people's feelings and opinions - indeed it can cope with the contradictory moral views we often find ourselves wrestling with

• Reflects the evaluative elements of moral statements.

Hume: Simple Subjectivism

“Defines virtue to be whatever mental action or quality gives to a spectator the pleasing sentiment of approbation; and vice the contrary.”

Ethical Egoism

• The theory that the morally right action is the one that produces the most favorable balance of good over evil for oneself.

• It is not synonymous with selfishness or self-indulgence.

• It is the normative or prescriptive doctrine that each individual should seek as an end only that individual’s own welfare.

• The idea here is that an individual’s own welfare is the only thing that us ultimately valuable for that individual.

• It claims that all persons seek their own self-interest.

• “We ‘should’ act in our own self-interest.”

• It differs from psychological egoism in that it does not suppose that all our actions are self-serving.

• Instead, this prescribes that we should make our own ends, our own interests, as our single overriding concern.

• We may act in a way that is beneficial to others, but we should do that only if it ultimately benefits us.

• Actions are right ones insofar as they would ultimately result in what is best

  for our own selves.

• This theory acknowledges that everyone ought to:

  • Put his or her own self at the center.

  • One should consider the self as the priority and not allow any other concerns, such as the welfare of other people, to deviate or detract from this pursuit.

Psychological Egoism

• The view that the motive for all our actions is self-interest.

• It is as much a theory about who we are as human beings as it is a theory of how we ought to act.

• It is an attempt to give one simple explanation of human motivation and behavior.

• It is the theory that every human action is motivated by self-interest. ‘

• It is a theory about the nature of human motives.

• It suggests that all behaviors are motivated by self interest.

• In other words, it suggests that every action or behavior or decision of every person is motivated by self interest.

• It also suggests that every action must be motivated by self interest.

• It is the theory that all our actions are basically motivated by self-interest.

• It is a view endorsed by several philosophers, among them:

  • Thomas Hobbes

  • Friedrich Nietzsche

• “We do ‘act’ in our own self-interest.”