AJ 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Egotism, Limited Government
Document Summary
Simply put, egoism postulates that moral is what is necessary for one"s life, and personal happiness. The severity of this situation is that all citizens will be working under the presumption that they themselves can do whatever benefits. Many are merely the means of maintaining happiness; in this scheme, there is no consideration of the rights of others. Of this reason, others have completely dismissed egoism as an ethical system, arguing that it is fundamentally incompatible with one of the elements. Psychological egoism is more an ethical prescription than a descriptive principle. Psychological egoism holds that human beings are biologically greedy and that they would be immoral to act any other way. All species have survival instincts, and the self-preservation and self-interest are just part of that instinct. Therefore, being selfish is not only good but the only way we can be, and all other interpretations of actions are pure rationalizations.
