With the development of modern society, many people say that the society has become miserable, and people only care their own profit. The self-interest is becoming the object of attacking. Thereupon, when we mention self- interest, people always mix up the concept of self-interest with selfishness. As we all known, the idea of selfishness is, “Abusing others, exploiting others, using others for their own advantage – doing something to others.” (Hospers, 59) Selfish people have no ethics, morals and standards when they do anything. At the same time, what is self – interest? Self- interest can be defined as egoism, which means a person is, “looking out for your own welfare.” (Hospers, 39) The welfare people talk about is nothing more than …show more content…
Therefore, many people misread self-interest is useless, and meaningless. However, they are wrong somehow, and actually there are some benefits of being self-interest. First of all, there is a term closely followed with self-interest as we mention, “collective interest” or “altruism”, which means that, “Looking out for other’s welfare.” (Hospers, 39) Analogously, it is totally opposite from the idea of self-interest. Common sense always recognizes that the collective is more important than the individual. A country, which is formed by plenty people, so is more significant than a person. Collective interest has bigger influence than self-interest to the society, as the founder of utilitarianism Jeremy Bentham stated, “Personal pleasure and pain are dependent on the general happiness and prosperity of the whole community.” (Fagothey, 63) and “The greatest happiness of the greatest number.” (Fagothey, 63) As if people only are allowed to serve the community rather individual. However, I strongly disagree with it and believe they forget a truth that the whole unity consists of many small parts. …show more content…
In other words, self-interest is a person’s pleasure, and chasing self-interest as a kind of happiness is comprehensible and somehow necessary, as Fr. Fagothey mentioned, “Man is free in the choice of concrete objects by whose possession he hopes to obtain happiness.” (Fagothey, 47) He also wrote, “We naturally desire health, wealth, knowledge, and other goods; but we cannot always obtain them.” (Fagothey, 56) Gaining all desire is necessary for people rather than simply survive. In this case, there is nothing wrong with reaching a personal goal and dreaming without impeding others, because as Stoic scholar declared, “What people constantly, are things that are not within their control.” (Hospers, 53) Therefore, trying to accomplish desire, promoting self is the only way to reach. For example, if one person wants to be wise, go to school and study hard, finally they gain the knowledge, which in other way finish his personal interest. Without promoting him/herself, it is impossible to reach this goal. Promptly, if everyone tries their best to capture the best by taking this kind of active progress into the society, as each one make little progress; it actually has huge influence to the society. To sum up, looking upon the term self-interest, people not only need to separate its concept with selfishness, but also have to
People often confuse the idea of acting in one’s self-interest and of being greedy for the same thing. While they are of a similar concept, there is one large difference. To be self-interested simply means that you seek your own personal gain. Reasonable self-interested behavior is actually a virtue; it acts as a form of motivation for people. Greed, however, is when self-interest is taken too far and it becomes excessive. When self-interest is taken too far, and it becomes greed, it can actually work against your own interests and be self-defeating. Meanwhile, most of the economic activity we see around us is the result of self-interested behavior.
Adam Smith’s moral theory explains that there is an “impartial spectator” inside each of us that aids in determining what is morally and universally good, using our personal experiences and human commonalities. In order to judge our own actions, we judge and observe the actions of others, at the same time observing their judgments of us. Our impartial spectator efficiently allows us to take on two perceptions at once: one is our own, determined by self-interest, and the other is an imaginary observer. This paper will analyze the impartiality of the impartial spectator, by analyzing how humans are motivated by self-interest.
Main characters often struggle with finding their self-worth, but the distinction between self-worth and selfishness may often be unclear. The protagonists of both Anthem, by Ayn Rand, and Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse, fluctuate between being self-aware and being selfish. If Equality is an honest narrator, then to describe him as selfish would be an incorrect understanding, because the laws in place by Equality 7-2521’s community strips every one of their individuality and, therefore, their humanity; however, to describe Siddhartha as selfish is a more accurate understanding, because Siddhartha never lost his humanity and only strives for his own desires.
Selfishness is a common trait in the world, it’s not a hidden factor, but very well-known as being one’s self-interest. The story “Hunters in the Snow” by Tobias Wolff, discusses how each character in the story deals with different kinds of selfish ways. One character, Tub, deals with eating problems and lies about it. Frank deals with a secret life that he is hiding from his wife. Kenny is always comparing something to his liking and if he does not like it then he will complain. Self-absorption is when someone is focused on their self and only themselves. It is known to be a regular’s human’s condition, it’s something majority of human beings have. Selfishness may also kick in during survival incidents. For example, a boy and his friends
Overvold, Mark C. "Morality, Self-Interest, and Reasons for Being Moral." Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 44.4 (1984): 493-507. JSTOR. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.
Is human nature inherently selfless or selfish? Although a seemingly simple concept, the aforementioned question has long been a profoundly controversial topic. While many claim that humans are intrinsically compassionate and inclined to help those in need, others argue that people instinctively prioritize their own individual security over other people’s welfares. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s literary works, “Young Goodman Brown” and The Scarlett Letter, as well as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s renowned novel, The Great Gatsby, all reference the idea that people impulsively pursue perfection, as determined by their community’s values. While different communities establish different standards for perfection, society as whole romanticizes the idea of perfection and subsequently people strive to create the illusion of a perfect life. How an individual represents the values idealized by a given community determines his/her reputation in that community. Although people may appear to wholesomely follow the values idolized by their community, in reality, human nature is inherently flawed, making it impossible for people to achieve perfection.
...ticipation correlate directly with the correct practice of “self-interest rightly understood” and we accept both Michael Sandel’s thesis about the rise of the “voluntarist self” and Robert Putnam’s thesis describing the decline of American social and political capital—then a gloomy picture emerges about the sustainability of virtue in the hands of enlightened self-interest alone. Without guidance in a wide expanse of interstitial space, it is easy to slip through the cracks.
The idea of each person ought to pursue his or her own self -interest exclusively to do in his life time for others is known as Ethical Egoism.
• Once more, the ordinary science’ proves itself as the master of classification, inventing and defining the various categories of Egoism. Per example, psychological egoism, which defines doctrine that an individual is always motivated by self-interest, then rational egoism which unquestionably advocates acting in self-interest. Ethical egoism as diametrically opposite of ethical altruism which obliges a moral agent to assist the other first, even if sacrifices own interest. Also, ethical egoism differs from both rational and psychological egoism in ‘defending’ doctrine which considers all actions with contributive beneficial effects for an acting individual
As previously stated, there is a balance to be maintained between selflessness and selfishness. Logically speaking, you would always want to help people, but overexerting yourself to try and help them solve their problems, won’t really help anyone. These ideas are expressed in Selflessness and the Loss of Self (Hampton, Jean, and Daniel Farnham). The Intrinsic Worth of Persons: Contractarianism in Moral and Political Philosophy. New York: Cambridge UP, 2007.
Selfishness is a disease of the soul that every person experiences several times throughout their life. To say that it has never been experienced would be hypocrisy. To say that it is a “good thing”, would be erroneous. Although as humans we like to lie to ourselves, it is no question that selfishness can make any person act like a fool. It consumes us and makes us into someone we are not. Whether it leads to getting people killed, falling in love, or buying alcohol, selfishness always leads to destruction.
A possible objection to my critique could be that “Although human beings may reserve the right to care about themselves it is egocentric, and not in the best interest for humanity.” The objection to my criticism could extend to even say that “By putting yourself interest ahead of others, you are indeed implying that you are the center of the universe or at least your own universe.” Yes, it is indeed the humane thing to do to put the best interest of others ahead of your own. But humans are not, and should not, forced to put the greater good ahead of their own life. This question is raised commonly in contemporary politics. In my opinion it is the individual’s choice if they so choose to donate time, money or any other resources to those in need. This decision should not be inflicted upon them. This ties back to Wolf’s original statement that “If you care about yourself you’re living as if you’re the center of the universe, which is false.” It is incongruous to believe that if you care about yourself you’re automatically implying that you are the center of the universe. Everyone who functions in society and is a normal human being, to a certain extent, cares about them self, which in my personal opinion is a good
...t altruism cannot exists and if a reciprocal altruism appears it will later on change into egoism or it will be overtaken by the group’s leader, and his altruism or egoism.
Psychological egoism, a descriptive claim about human nature, states that humans by nature are motivated only by self-interest. To act in one's self-interest is to act mainly for one's own good and loving what is one's own (i.e. ego, body, family, house, belongings in general). It means to give one's own interests higher priority then others'. "It (psychological egoism) claims that we cannot do other than act from self-interest motivation, so that altruism-the theory that we can and should sometimes act in favor of others' interests-is simply invalid because it's impossible" (Pojman 85). According to psychological egoists, any act no matter how altruistic it might seem, is actually motivated by some selfish desire of the agent (i.e., desire for reward, avoidance of guilt, personal happiness).
Selfishness is a term fairly notorious for its meaning. A lot of people accept that being selfish is wrong, but no one knows how this came about and why it matters. Who has the right to decide whether someone gets to be selfish or not? In his article “The unselfishness Trap”, Harry Browne says that the best way for people to be happy is when if everyone sacrifices but me. Thomas Nagel, on the other hand, argues in his article “The Objective Basis of Morality” that being concerned about others is more important. Being selfish, for many people, is evil. By definition, selfishness is to be more concerned about yourself than others, but that would essentially make every living human being a “selfish” being.