PHILOS 1E03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Epicurus, Ancient Greek Philosophy, Rational Egoism

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHILOS 1E03
• Professor: Mark Johnstone

Document Summary

Here are some possible views: doing the morally right thing often requires self-sacri ce: doing what is not in one"s own best interest. Most commonly thought these two things con ict: doing the morally right thing and doing what is in one"s own best interest always ultimately converge. Religious views that what you do in this life determines what happens to you in: Common view in ancient greek philosophy: we should act exclusively in pursuit of our own best interest, even when this means doing (conventionally) immoral things ( sel shness is a virtue ) We should always do what bene ts us most. There are two main kinds of egoism : comes from ego meaning i in latin, psychological egoism: People are in fact always ultimately motivated by self-interest, even in cases of apparent altruism. People should always be motivated exclusively by self interest.