so, im finaly making a philosophical post. im hoping to be posting alot, maybe even day to day, and nothing too interesting happened today. so i figured, why not make a philosophical post?
so im posting about ethical egoism. this theory was brought to my attention by the new teacher i posted about a while back. he also brought up absurdism, which ill cover later. well i dont remember how we got on this topic, but we were talking about motives. i said that everyone should be motivated to make themselves better. he said somthing like so are the people who sacrifice there lives for others wrong for doing that? i said no, because they get joy from doing that, or have some other motif. he said, and i quote, "ahh, that my friend is called ethical egoism"
now, i had never heard of this "ethical egoism" so of course, he explained it to me in more detail, which included an explanation of altruism. haha i may consider myself an aspiring philosopher, but i have yet to take a class in philosophy, so im not too aware of many of the beliefs.
he even gave me an example of altruism, the lemmings. once the population count gets too high, herds of them will run off cliffs to try and keep the population level even.
we debated for a little, but then i had to leave. iv sence been thinking about this though of ethical egoism. it seems to make sence to me, and its relieving that i can be labled and "ethical egoist" and find others with the same thought pattern as me.
i just wana hear what you guys have to say about this.
Peace!
Dubito ergo Cogito
And So It Goes (2014)
9 years ago
7 comments:
Now you're making me do research! Interesting concept, that of ethical egoism. The idea of that people ought to act in their own self interest. i always thought the idea that getting joy from sacrificing for others was altruism.
You'll learn more about philosophy from having conversations like these than reading books...the great philosophers certainly didn't learn it from texts! Excellent post. I learned something tonight!
Ego reputo, ergo ego nuto.
his mistake-- comparing human beings to lemmings... as tempting as that might be at times, labeling people into groups is simplistic and absurd-- the spectrum of human behavior is wide and varied and nonsense like that does justice to noone but bored academics... keep thinking (independently) kid-- you're too smart to fall for flaccid theories and explanations... luv, tman<3
Man I wish there was an edit button.LOL
Actually taking philosophy this year. The way I was taught by my professor was that there are actually Two types of Egoism and Altruism: Ethical and Psychological. Ethical Egoism states that All people should be selfish all the time While psychological egoism states that All people ARE selfish all the time. It basically states what jay said about that all people will act in there own self-interest all the time. Even if someone did a good deed a Ethical egoist would say that they did this to make themselves feel better or gratification as you said.
The way I was taught altruism is the exact opposite ethical altruism states that all people should be unselfish all the time. Where psychological altruism states that all people are unselfish all the time.
We all know that this is not true, but look at it this way in psychological egoism all people ARE selfish ALL the time. In your opinion is THAT statement true. Take it one step further, Ethical egoism states that All people should people be selfish all the time.
Now ask your self is that true, how would the world be like if we were all selfish all the time.
That's up to you, altruism from what I understand isn't always about sacrificing (at least according to my instructor). Most of this stuff comes out of our book which I believe to be somewhat accurate.
While I agree that people are generally self-motivated I believe that there are REAL UNSELFISH ACTS. SO I wouldn't call myself and egoist.
You should ask him about utilitarianism and deontology. See what he says and get back to me.
When we do good things, what are our motives? Are we just individuals who want to feel good themselves? Or are we just a part of a wider community for whom we feel the need to do good deeds?
We are both. Everyone has both motivations to a greater or lesser extent. Which is more important just depends whether you are looking at the individual or at the community.
Spys,
My first comment here.
Nice to see you youngsters partaking in philosophical discussions...:-)
But I agree the lemmings example of altruism is a bad one...lemmings aren't human...they don't hold meetings and say, "Ok, look guys. There's too many of us...so why don't YOU guys go jump off a cliff???" LOL!!!
So now, you can go back and accuse your teacher of engaging in "anthropomorphization."
:-D
-Andy
I think that 'ethical egoism' is bordering more on psychology than philosophy; understanding human behavior. We are genetically programmed to survive; self-interest is always part of the equation. That self-interest may involve greater knowledge and understanding. Why am I commenting on your blog? Cos you are gay the same as me, and I want to understand how the young gay guys are coping in times today as compared with decades past. Lend a little support to the gay teens out there and a 'fuck you' to str8 society.(selfish motive!) But philosophically speaking, I suspect that all living things spring from the same well of life and return to it; being unselfishly ethical in our treatment of all living things is ultimately in our own self-interest. bfn - Wayne :)
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