Egoism Essay: Descriptive And Egoism In Philosophy

PHI2600 Ethics Research Project

Yue Tan

Egoism, Alexander Moseley

Egoism in philosophy is a theory about the motivation and goal of people’s action. Egoism has two variants, descriptive and normative. We need to distinguish from Egoism and egoism, which means we need psychological overvaluation people’s actives. This article talks about why people act for reasons, for what reason. Also, it tells what we should to do and not to do in a moral perspective.

1.Descriptive and Psychological Egoism

• Psychological egoism describes human nature as self-centered and self-motivated. Psychological egoism strongly suggests that people are always acting for their own benefit and have to act for their own benefit, though they may hide their motives by

Also, they believe that whenever an agent makes a choice to act, the act is defined as the agent wants to do something about it. This behavior is selfish, so it has been fully explained by the psychometrical theory. Opponents argue that psycho-egoism is philosophically deficient because it sidesteps the nuances of motivation. • Hume believes that self-interest against moral feelings may attract people's attention and may inspire others' behavior. These moral feelings include love, friendship, compassion and gratitude. Second, psycho-egalitarianism seeks to reduce one's motivation to a single cause.

2.Normative Egoism

• The second variant of egoism is normative because it provides that agents should push themselves to other values. The general theory of normative egoism does not attempt to describe human nature directly, but rather asserts how one should behave. It has two general forms: rational egoism and ethical