Psychological and Ethical Egoism

“moral motives are as primary, powerful and emotionally intense as our aggressive and acquisitive ones, that concern for others emerges spontaneously in very young children.”  (Schulman, 2002, 500)

Differences

Unraveling the differences is a matter of understanding that ethical egoism is about ‘should’, while psychological egoism is about ‘is’, this is just how people are.  Nothing a psychological egoist does can be accepted as other than from a selfish desire to satisfy their own needs, whereas the ethical egoist may act in many ways which help others, even while focusing on their own welfare as the ultimate goal.  This is the main difference; the pursuit of that goal does not make them selfish, as they do benefit others while looking out for number one.  Psychological egoists, on the other hand, will pursue desires not always in their best interests, such as drinking or eating too much, driven by the need for immediate gratification, seeing no long term negatives or goods they might achieve; nobody else matters.

Contrasts in Motivation

The doctrine of psychological egoism is nonmoral, based on the belief that the motive that drives us is the pursuit of our own welfare, to the exclusion of anyone else’s.  It is just how we are, totally self concerned.  Freud (1923) described the ego as “the conscious rationalizing section of the mind.”, so every act can be reasoned out has behavior to serve the self.  On the other hand, ethical egoists believe that the moral value lies in looking out for yourself, and when motivated this way, every action, even helping others, takes you further along the road to achieving your own best interests.  The contrast would seem to lie in the total selfishness of psychological egoism as opposed to the serving of other’s welfare while centering on one’s own.  This seems mutually advantageous and better for society.

It is doubtful whether either theory can be held as a true ethical philosophy.  If the definition of selfishness is applied, meaning that we always refuse to consider others in favor of our own pleasures, motivated by our needs only, then evidence of fallacy has shown this to be untrue.  Self-interest describes a person who is absorbed in what he perceives to be what serves his interests best.  If  applied to ethical egoism,  there is evidence to overturn this too, it would need to be a universal concept to have the strength to stand as a moral theory, and it is not.  The evidence of altruistic instincts and a morality of concern for others is more universal and stronger than either of these two theories. It is more likely that we all possess elements of self-interest and self-preservation, but are inherently disposed to help and get along with others in society.  After all, it is in our best interests to do so.

Reference List

Concise Oxford Dictionary (1979) 6th Edition. (p. 1031)  Editor, Sykes, J. B. Oxford:

            Oxford University Press

Freud, S. (1923) The Ego and the Id.  Cited in Philip’s World Atlas and Encyclopedia

            (1999).  London: Philip’s

Hobbes, T. (1651)  Leviathan, Introduction.  Renascence Editions ebook  Retrieved 

February 2, 2007 from http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~rbear/hobbes/leviathan.html

Moseley, A/ (2006) Egoism.  The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.  Retrieved

            February 1, 1007 from

            http://www.cep.utm.edu/e/egoism.htm

Psychological Egoism  (n.d.).  Retrieved  February 1, 2007 from

            http://philosophy.lander.edu/ethics/egoism.html

Rand, A. (1964)  The Virtue of Selfishness.  (p. 7)  New York:  Signet, 1970

Schulman, M. (2002)  How We Become Moral.  Chapter 36. Eds. Snyder,  C. &

 Lopez, S.  The Handbook of Positive Psychology.  New York: Oxford Press