An Analysis of Psychological and Ethical Egoism Concepts

This essay provides a comparative analysis of psychological and ethical egoism. It begins by defining egoism as a theory emphasizing self-interest. The essay then distinguishes between psychological egoism, which describes human actions as motivated by self-interest, and ethical egoism, which posits that actions are moral if they serve one's own interests. Psychological egoism is presented as a descriptive theory based on empirical facts, while ethical egoism is framed as a philosophical theory concerning the morality of actions. The essay highlights that ethical egoism does not necessarily advocate for actions that harm oneself or others but rather focuses on long-term self-interest. The paper further contrasts the descriptive nature of psychological egoism with the moral implications of ethical egoism, concluding that the two concepts are interrelated, with ethical egoism building upon psychological egoism. The essay references various academic sources to support its arguments.

RUNNING HEAD: PSYCHOLOGICAL AND ETHICAL EGOISM 0
2020
Psychological Egoism and Ethical Egoism
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PSYCHOLOGICAL AND ETHICAL EGOISM 1
Differences Between Psychological Egoism and Ethical
Egoism
Egoisms is related with the theory that defines the self-interest and gives importance to
own views (Brodback, Guenster, & Guenster, 2019). Further, there are differences in the
psychological egoism and enlightened ethical egoism but define the same motive of the humans
which is for the self-interests. The paper has highlighted the differences between the
psychological and ethical egoism.
Psychological egoism is related with the human action which seeks to make the actions
which can best satisfy the self-interests. This is a descriptive theory which states that the human
behavior is precisely based on the observations and the empirical facts (Irwin, 2017). This is
based on the belief that people are motivated to pursue self-interest and do things which is best
for their self-interest and is different from the selfishness. This makes the individual to act for the
self-interest which motivates the individual to act in that way. This is different from the ethical
egoism which is treated as the philosophical theory which states that the consequences of the
actions of the individual is ethical (Fang & Slavin, 2018). This means that the actions are moral
when it can satisfy own interests. Alternatively, ethical egoism does not make the behavior
which includes harming self and making approaches for protecting the wellbeing others. Also,
this do not necessarily mean that the individual will do anything to satisfy the self-interest as this
satisfaction can only fulfil the short-term desires and the same cannot be beneficial for long term.
Further, psychological egoism is based on the notion that the humans will make the
actions which can bring benefit to themselves in one way or the other. Being a part of the
descriptive ethics, this only makes the focus on the way things are done. Moreover, the
individuals in this case must not unnecessarily makes the best but they make the actions which
proves that their actions are made for the level of achievement in the society (Piccinini & Schulz,
2019). On the other hand, ethical egoism determines the morality of the action can only be
maintained through the serving of the self-interests. Furthermore, the theory suggests the actions
of the individual are regarded as immoral when the actions are made contrary to the self-
interests. Under this, the only thing that matters to the person is the well-being. Moreover, by
relying on the utilitarianism approach of ethics, it can be said that the moral agent as per the

PSYCHOLOGICAL AND ETHICAL EGOISM 2
ethical egoism will make the actions which can best satisfy the needs of all the people. But this
does not mean that the individual will sacrifice the own interests.
Conclusively, it can be said that both psychological and ethical egoisms are interrelated
and dependent on each other. Also, an individual who has ethical egoism is automatically part of
the psychological egoism. Moreover, there are differences in both of the concepts. Psychological
egoism is way people pursue their self-interests and when this is linked with the morality then
this becomes ethical egoism.

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References
Brodback, D., Guenster, N., & Guenster, D. (2019). Altruism and egoism in investment
decisions. Review of Financial Economics, 37(1), 118-148.
Fang, J., & Slavin, N. (2018). Ethics–Comparing Ethical Egoism with Confucius’s Golden Rule.
Journal of Business and Economic Studies, 22(1), 17-31.
Irwin, W. (2017). Psychological egoism and self-interest. Reason Papers, 39(2), 69-89.
Piccinini, G., & Schulz, A. (2019). The Ways of Altruism. Evolutionary Psychological Science,
5(1), 58-70.