Analyzing and Supporting Psychological Egoism Theory

¶ … Psychological Egoism Theory

Egoism in every form necessitates explication of well-being, welfare, or self-interest. Two chief theories exist in this regard. Self-interest has been identified with personal desire satisfaction by desire or preference accounts. Usually, and most conceivably, such desires will be restricted to those that are self-regarding. Though what constitutes a self-regarding desire is debatable, clear instances and counter-instances exist: desires for one's personal pleasure will be self-regarding, while those for others' welfare won't. In objective account, self-interest is identified with state possession (e.g. knowledge or virtue) assessed separately whether or not they're desired/preferred (Shaver para.1).

The empirical principle of psychological egoism states that the defining motive behind all voluntary actions is the desire for personal welfare. In this approach, despite all actions being considered self-interest actions, egoists readily highlight the fact that individuals normally attempt to mask the defining motives underlying their actions, since this concealment will often be to their personal advantage. This name has been ascribed to a hypothesis popularly held by lay people, and once accepted almost universally by political philosophers, psychologists, and economists. According to this theory, every action committed by mankind, if properly understood, will reveal that it has been motivated by egotistic desires. To put it more precisely, the psychological egoism doctrine states that the sole thing people ultimately pursue or desire is their self-interest. Individuals seem to act disinteresting and selfishly when they use others' interests as a means to promoting self-interest. Such universal selfishness isn't any coincidence or accident on this outlook, but rather, constitutes an inevitable result of psychological decrees (Freiburg and Russ 494).

One sometimes does things out of a sense of responsibility (obligation) rather than desire. Whatever one does is linked to some concern that leads one to perform the action/behavior. Numerous kinds of desires and motives exist that may reasonably be termed as "egoistic"; corresponding to all these is some potential version of the aforementioned "psychological egoism." Probably, the most widely-occurring version of this theory is the one the authors apparently hold. This version claims that every individual has a lone ultimate motive underlying all of their voluntary actions/behaviors, and this motive is selfish in nature. To be more specific, it is a particular type of self-centered motive -- the desire to obtain personal pleasure. The sole ultimate desire has always been the desire of gaining or prolonging pleasant personal experiences and avoidance or curtailing of unpleasant personal experiences. "Psychological egoistic hedonism" is the name typically given to such psychological egoism (Feinberg and Russ 494).

To many individuals, psychological egoism appears plausible for various reasons. It has been widely agreed that an individual typically feels pleased when he/she gets whatever he/she desires. To many individuals, this indicates that what they really desire in all cases is their own pleasure, with the pursuit of other things merely acting as the means. Man often deceives himself into believing he desires something noble or fine, though what he actually wishes for is being well-thought-of by other people or being capable of congratulating himself, or enjoying the pleasures associated with a blameless conscience. The fact that individuals have a tendency to hide their real motives even from themselves through camouflage using words such as "virtue" is well-known. As one is misled with regard to one's real motives as well as those of other people, it may be considered sensible to suppose that one can always be misled when considering motives to be altruistic and disinterested (Freiburg and Russ 494-5).

We help other people because of our belief that we can reach heaven through such service, or gain public recognition. Also, people enjoy the appreciation of the people they aid. Attribution of selfish motives to explain seemingly altruistic behavior necessitates a re-interpretation of motives underlying these behaviors. For instance, supposing a person rushes into a burning building to rescue a trapped child. He succeeds in safely bringing the child out and when questioned regarding the reason for this noble need, he claims he believed it was the appropriate thing to be done at that instant, and that he could not stand by watching a child die. However, psychological egoists disregard the literal account, looking for an underlying motive. They will claim that the individual probably rescued the child for the positive regard he would receive later or probably because he was well aware of the fact that this would make him feel good and raise his self-worth. The person may claim concern for the child's life and moral judgment was his motivation, but in truth, his motive will be totally egotistic (Chapter 5: Psychological Egoism para.1).