PHI 1700H Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Egotism
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4. they are people who could be helped or harmed by what we do. It holds that our only duty is to do what is best for ourselves. Is altruism possible: according to psychological egoism, we may believe ourselves to be noble and self-sacrificing, but that is only an illusion. For example, i may write my grandmother a letter because i promised my mother i would, even though i don"t want to do it. It is sometimes suggested that we do such things because we most want to keep our promises: but that is not true. It is simply false to say that my strongest desire is to keep my promise. In some instances of altruism, we may have no self interested motivates. Three arguments for ethical egoism: ethical egoism, that each person ought to pursue his or her own self-interest exclusively, the principle of self interest accounts for all of one"s obligations.
