Question

Explain, in your own words, what psychological egoism is.  Create your own unique example to clarify your explanation. Select one of the three arguments for psychological egoism; after objectively presenting the argument of your choice, critically evaluate its persuasiveness.
ETHICS

Answer 1

Psychological egoism is a theoretical perspective that argues that we, as human beings, are always motivated to perform behaviours that we perceive to be in our self-interest. According to this theory, even acts to benefit others have an underlying personal interest, which can be direct or indirect. Consider as an example, a man giving a huge chunk of money to an old, homeless man despite being impoverished himself. If we apply the theory, we can conclude that he did so to eliminate feelings of guilt or discomfort that he may have experienced by looking at the man. Some of benefits of altruism include non-sensory satisfaction, the expectation of reciprocation, the desire to gain respect or reputation, or by the expectation of a reward in a putative afterlife.
Psychology hedonism is offered as an explanation action to psychological egoism. It states that we ultimately desire to experience pleasure or to avoid pain. This notion offers a quite compelling explanation of empathy. From a neurological standpoint, it has been demonstrated that mirror neurons are fired when human subjects report empathy. This means that when we empathize with another, the brain operates as if we are actually participating in the actions of the other person. Psychological hedonism would explain why we can go out of our way to help them.