This document summarizes the ethical philosophy of egoism. It discusses different versions of ethical egoism, arguments that are used to support it such as that altruism is demeaning, and criticisms of ethical egoism. Some key criticisms are that it cannot be universally applied, presumes a world of strangers, and has difficulty explaining concepts like friendship and moral sensitivity which seem to require consideration of others. The document advocates for an ideal middle ground between egoism and altruism where self-interest and regard for others converge.

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Lawrence M. Hinman, Ph.D.
Director, The Values InstituteUniversity of San Diego
“Look out for #1—
and there is no #2”
Ethical Egoism

2. 02/19/16 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 2
Be My Valentine?
“Love, we are repeatedly taught, consists of self-
sacrifice. Love based on self-interest, we are
admonished, is cheap and sordid. True love, we
are told, is altruistic. But is it?
“Genuine love is the exact opposite. It is the most
selfish experience possible, in the true sense of
the term: it benefits your life in a way that
involves no sacrifice of others to yourself nor of
yourself to others.”
--Gary Hull
Valentine’s Day, 1998
Ayn Rand Institute in Marina del Rey

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Ethical Egoism
Selfishness is extolled
as a virtue
– Ayn Rand, The Virtue of
Selfishness
May appeal to
psychological egoism
as a foundation
Often very compelling
for high school
students

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Versions of Ethical Egoism
Personal Ethical Egoism
– “I am going to act only in my own interest, and
everyone else can do whatever they want.”
Individual Ethical Egoism
– “Everyone should act in my own interest.”
Universal Ethical Egoism
– “Each individual should act in his or her own
self interest.”

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Arguments for Ethical Egoism
There are at least three principal
arguments in support of ethical
egoism:
Altruism is demeaning.
Acting selfishly creates a better
world.
It doesn’t result in such a different
world after all.

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Altruism Is Demeaning
Friedrich Nietzsche and other
philosophers argued that
altruism was demeaning
because it meant that an
individual was saying that
some other person was more
important than that
individual. Nietzsche saw
this as denigrating oneself,
putting oneself down by
valuing oneself less than the
other. This, the heart of
altruism, is demeaning in
Nietzsche’s eyes.

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Acting Selfishly Creates a Better
World
Ethical egoists sometimes maintain that if
each person took care of himself/herself,
the overall effect would be to make the
world a better place for everyone.
– Epistemological: Each person is best suited to
know his or her own best interests.
– Moral: Helping others makes them dependent,
which ultimately harms them.
Reply: this justification ultimately appeals to
utilitarian principles, not the principles of
ethical egoism.

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Ethical egoism doesn’t result in such a
different world after all.
This argument presupposes the people in fact
already act selfishly (i.e, psychological
egoism) and are just pretending to be
altruistic.
If psychological egoism is true, then we
should admit its truth and get rid of our
hypocrisy.
Reply: it may not make a big difference in a
world of independent adults, but in a world
with children and people at risk or in need,
they would be put in further jeopardy.

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Criticisms of Ethical Egoism
Cannot be consistently universalized
– But see Kalin: This works in sports.
Presupposes a world of strangers
indifferent to one another.
Difficult to imagine love or even
friendship from the altruist’s
standpoint.
Seems to be morally insensitive

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Universalizing Ethical Egoism
Can the ethical egoist consistently will
that everyone else follow the tenets of
ethical egoism?
– It seems to be in one’s self-interest to be
selfish oneself and yet get everyone else to act
altruistically (especially if they act for your
benefit). This leads to individual ethical
egoism.
Some philosophers such as Jesse Kalin
have argued that in sports we consistently
universalize ethical egoism: we intend to
win, but we want our opponents to try as
hard as they can!

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Ethical Egoism:
a philosophy for a world of strangers
Some philosophers have argued that
ethical egoism is, at best,
appropriate to living in a world of
strangers that you do not care about.

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Ethical Egoism and Friendship
Can ethical egoists be good friends?
– If friendship involves (among other
things) being concerned about other
people for their own sake, then this
seems something beyond the reach of
the egoist.
– Ethical egoists can help their friends if
they believe there is a long-term payoff
for doing so.

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Ethical Egoism and
Moral Sensitivity
Can the ethical egoist be sensitive to
the suffering of others?
– Such sensitivity seems to presuppose
caring about other people for their own
sake.
– Moral sensitivity presupposes that the
suffering of others exerts a moral “pull”
on the individual—something that the
ethical egoist does not recognize.

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The Truths in Ethical Egoism
Sometimes self-interest
masquerades as altruism
Ethics should not deny the
importance of self-interest
Self-love is a virtue, but it is not the
only virtue Ethical egoism mistakes a
part of the picture for the whole
picture

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Aristotle
Tocqueville’s
“Self-interest rightly understood”
Egoism, Altruism, and
the Ideal World
Ideally, we seek a society in
which self-interest and regard
for others converge—the green
zone.
Egoism at the expense of
others and altruism at the
expense of self-interest both
create worlds in which
goodness and self-regard are
mutually exclusive—the yellow
zone.
No one want the red zone,
which is against both self-
interest and regard for others.
High
Altruism
Low
Egoism
Low
Altruism
High
Egoism
Self-sacrificing
altruism
Self-interest
at the expense
of others
Self-interest
and regard
for others
converge
Not beneficial
either to self
or others
Kant
Hobbes’s
State of Nature,
Nietzsche?
Drug addiction
Alcoholism, etc.