Philosophy Psychological Egoism vs. Ethical Egoism - Essay Example

Ethical egoism has a normative ethical theory which helps us to determine between the right and wrong of things or actions. In fact, it guides us as to how we are supposed to act in different situations. In contrast to Ethical Egoism, we have Psychological egoism that is based on the descriptive theory which means that it describes certain salient facts about human psychology. According to Ethical egoism, we help others with the notion that it works to the person’s own benefit and advantage and in the course of it, justify our actions.

In Ethical egoism it is often debated that sometimes the help that is rendered does more harm than good, and since harming others is wrong, therefore we should not help others. Others have argued that we do not understand the needs of others and hence end up intruding upon their privacy and dignity which might be offensive to them and hence helping them is not necessary. According to the principles of egoism, condemning a certain action would occur if it did not work out in one’s own self interest and condemning any action on the basis of harming others would not be the case unless the action harmed one’s own self.

According to the ethics of Altruism, the life of an individual is not given too much importance because according to altruistic principles, an individual should be ready to lay down his life (sacrifice) for the good of others. On the contrary, Ethical egoism permits an individual to view their life as having an ultimate value. In weighing the pros and cons between the two, ethical egoism is more acceptable. However, besides the two there is another option where we are in a position to balance our own interests with the interests of other individuals in our society.

Egoism offers us a rationale when looking at it from a common sense moral perspective. On moral grounds not harming others, not lying and keeping to our