Compassionate Egoism

Egoism at its root relates to self-interest. It is the idea that a person’s goal in one life should be to promote the individual. There are two different heads to this beast, both of which have some very good points, but fail to complete what a moral code should be comprised of. The first, ethical egoism, describes what humans should do, e.g. anything in their individual self-interests. The second, psychological egoism, describes what humans will do. It is important to make a distinction between the two. Ethical egoism says humans should act in a way that promotes the individual, be it holding money instead of giving to charity or not helping an old lady across the street. Psychological egoism, however, says what humans will do, almost as if it was wired into our brains, a kind of subliminal message telling us to watch out for ourselves. Though quite different, both of these theories are flawed.

Ethical egoism, as mentioned before, is the idea that a person should work at his or her self-interests above all else. Opponents of egoism would say that there are a few things wrong with that. First of all, ethical egoism is not equipped to handle conflicts of interest. Say, for instance that Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck are running for president. In the case of ethical egoism, it would be in Mickey’s best interest to murder Donald. However, it would be in Donald’s best interest not to be murdered. So, in order for Mickey to achieve his self interests, he would have to take away Donald’s self interests. However, if both Mickey and Donald are ethical egoists, neither of them cares about the other’s interests. So stopping Donald from not getting murdered does not affect Mickey, he’s going to kill Donald anyway. Another argument opponents to ethical egoism have is that ethical egoism is arbitrary because it automatically picks the individual to be more important than everything else. Opponents would ask what it is that makes the individual so special, what is different about that person that makes them better than everyone else. Once again, I see no problem here. The reason the individual is so important is because it is the same individual who is making the decision on who is important. Ethical egoism is also supported by the idea that in trying to help people, we don’t know others’ needs as well as our own, and therefore might ruin the job. Therefore, we should only look out for ourselves.

Human beings are not in touch with anyone’s needs as much as they are their own. Psychological egoism has some different flaws though. Psychological egoism is the idea that humans will do what ever is in their best interests, that it is hardwired into their brains to do so. In this theory, the fact that it’s a built in function means there is no true altruism. It means that everything a person does can somehow be traced back to some self-interest being fulfilled. There are two maxims for psychological egoism; we always do what we most want to do, and we do what makes us feel good. The argument that we do what we most want to do can be seen as flawed. It is supposedly obvious that we don’t always do what we most want. Rarely can someone be found who truly wants to mow the lawn, or help a neighbor move. However, I believe that self-interested motives can be deduced from such actions. A person who mows the lawn does it for two reasons; if the lawn is mowed at a later time, it will be much harder work. Also, if a person’s lawn is not mown, it is hard to have pride in how the lawn looks. Another point against psychological egoism says that the idea that we do what makes us feel good is flawed as well. People do stuff that’s detrimental to their health constantly. Take smoking for example. Smoking causes numerous forms of cancer, heart disease, tooth and gum decay and multiple lung diseases. However people still like to do it because it makes them feel good. However, in the short-term, smoking provides a way to calm the nerves, something familiar to fall back on in hard times, or just a way to take a break from something. Psychological egoism may seem to have many faults, but is in fact just a basic way to describe the inner workings of the mind of the human being.

Before an acceptable alternative can be offered, a certain point must be clarified. While accepting that psychological egoism is true, we must look at how we prioritize our actions. First of all, while doing a certain action does not necessarily mean that it was what we really wanted to do. For example, getting a job does not necessarily mean we actually want a job; it is a waste of time and energy. However the benefits of a job, including camaraderie, feelings of contributing to society, and, as always, monetary compensation,