Psychological egoism feinberg pdf psychological egoism feinberg pdf psychological egoism feinberg pdf psychological egoism joel feinberg pdf in psychological egoism, in j feinberg. This paper critically examines some different views about the content, strength, and justification of. Ethical egoism one common assumption is that the interests, needs, and happiness of other people should factor in our moral evaluation of things. The opening argument he dubs a tautology 14 from which nothing whatever concerning the nature of my motives or the objective of my desires can possibly follow the oxford companion to philosophy. Egoism argues that not only ought one to pursue ones own interests but, that caring for others is ethically rejected unless one assigns selfvalue to the action. One argument for psychological egoism is that we always do what we most want to do. That is, it reduces what seems to be a plurality or a multiplicity of motives to a single kind. Pdf psychological egoism is the view that each person is so constituted that. Terms in this set 88 according to our definition of an argument, in an argument the. Psychological egoism psychological egoism is the thesis that we always act from selfish motives. To answer this question, sober and wilson focus on just one version of egoism, and geinberg they take to be the most difficult to refute. Do you agree with the verdict he draws from the story. Joel feinberg joel feinberg 19262004 was professor of philosophy at the university of arizona. Article pdf available in australasian journal of philosophy 561.
Altruism contradicts psychological egoism and so is impossible by 1 and 3 5. Selfinterest, ethical egoism, and the restored gospel. He argues that selfinterest is the wrong sort of reason. Psychological egoism is supported by our frequent observation of. What problems does he raise for psychological egoistic hedonism given each of these definitions. It says, roughly, that human beings are so constituted as to. Psychological egoism psychological egoism is the doctrine that the only thing anyone is capable of desiring or pursuing ultimately is a. Psychological egoism is the view that humans are always motivated by selfinterest and selfishness, even in what seem to be acts of altruism. Ethical egoism, i believe, is unacceptable on just this account. Psychological egoism psychological egoism, whose proponents include epicurus, hobbes, spinoza, and arguably bentham, and whose critics include butler, hume, and sidgwick, is a doctrine about human nature, and speci. Arneson university of california, san diego joel feinberg was a brilliant philosopher whose work in social and moral philosophy is a legacy of excellent, even stunning achievement. Broad, c 1952, egoism as a theory of human motives, ethics and the history. Justin garson 2016 studies in history and philosophy of science part c. It claims that, when people choose to help others, they do so ultimately because of the personal benefits that they themselves expect to.
In the lesson that you just read, psychological egoism is the belief that human actions are a result of ones selfinterest. Different versions of psychological egoism might define selfinterested action differently. Joel feinberg october 19, 1926 in detroit, michigan march 29, 2004 in tucson, arizona was an american political and legal philosopher. Dec 08, 20 psychological egoism is the belief that men only act in selfinterest in all situations, and when we help others we do it for ourselves. According to joel feinberg there are some points that have made psychological.
Perhaps his most memorable achievement is his fourvolume treatise on the moral lim. Joel feinberg psychological egoism pdf download download joel feinberg psychological egoismjoel feinberg psychological egoism pdfjoel feinberg psychological egoism articlejoel feinberg psychological egoism essayjoel feinberg psychological egoism summary 0fea0b1dc0 a specific form of psychological egoism is psychological hedonism. Psychological egoism is the thesis that we always act from selfish motives. The opening argument he dubs a tautology from which nothing whatever concerning the nature of my motives or the objective of my desires can possibly follow. Until we know what they psychological egoists would count as unselfish behavior, we. It holds that all desires are egoistic desires, or else derived egoistic desires. What is feinberg s point in telling the story about abraham lincoln.
Mark mercer is an unaffiliated philosopher with a ph. According to feinberg, psychological egoism argues that an individual will always do what is in its best interest. Psychological egoism and its critics mercer 1998 the. Psychological egoism and its critics psychological egoism and its critics mercer, mark 19981201 00. The history about the psychological egoism philosophy essay. It claims that, when people choose to help others, they do so ultimately because of the personal benefits that they themselves expect to obtain, directly or indirectly, from so doing. Psychological egoism is a descriptive theory that rather than suggesting, as ethical or rational egoism does, how people ought to live, suggests how people actually go about their lives. Joel feinberg and the justification of hard paternalism richard j. He is known for his work in the fields of ethics, action theory, philosophy of law, and political philosophy as well as individual rights and the authority of the state. An alternate form of psychological egoism, psychological hedonism, relates to jerry benthams ideals, the only kind of desire is the desire to get or to prolong pleasant experiences, and to avoid or cut short unpleasant experiences for oneself feinberg 167. What two senses of pleasure does feinberg distinguish. Pdf selfinterest, ethical egoism, and the restored gospel. Lafollette, h 1988, the truth in psychologicalegoism, in joel feinberg ed.
It must be distinguished from the normative claim that. In defence of weak psychological egoism springerlink. Joel feinberg psychological egoism pdf what is psychological egoism, and how does it differ from ethical egoism. Egoism and altruism are unequal contenders in the explanation of human behaviour. Studies in history and philosophy of biological and biomedical. With these points in mind, we can characterize egoistic and altruistic desires in the psychologidal way although actions may vary in content, the ultimate source is selfinterest. What is psychological egoism, and how does it differ from ethical egoism. Psychological egoism is a theory that holds that human beings always behave selfishly in everything that they do, and that it is impossible for them to behave otherwise. Psychological egoism and selfinterest reason papers. Psychological egoism by joel feinberg philosophercharlie.
The argument from psychological egoism to ethical egoism article pdf available in australasian journal of philosophy 561. Psychological egoism and its critics, the southern journal of. Of particular interest to me is the paradox of hedonism. Feinberg observes that such arguments for psychological egoism are rarely mounted on the basis of empirical proof when, being psychological, they very well ought to. To show that this is so is the objective of this essay. The assumptive nature of the theory introduces a number of possible avenues for refutation, some of which are very compelling.
John clarke of hulls argument for psychological egoism. What do you think is the best argument in favor of the theory. If one cannot do an act, one has no obligation to do it ought implies can principle 3. We always seek to maximize our own self interest psychological egoism 2. Dec 23, 2019 feinberg psychological egoism pdf posted on december 23, 2019 by admin psychological egoism is the doctrine that the only thing anyone is capable of desiring or pursuing ultimately is. Because psychological egoism states that every act of every person is motivated by selfinterest, it is universal. This is supposed to be a psychological fact of human motivations. If we accept this assumption, we think that our moral evaluation of an action involves balancing our selfinterest against that of others.
This means that ones emotions of compassion and empathy for those less well off than us or those. Nov 16, 2009 the main difference between the two is that psychological egoism makes a claim about the way things are, and ethical egoism makes a claim about how things ought to be. Psychological egoism is a claim about all intentional actions. The right to autonomy and the justification of hard. Psycholo many peopl the followin joel feinberg psychological egoism the theory 1. Psychological egoism is the doctrine that the only thing anyone is capable of desiring or pursuing ultimately is. Joel feinberg psychological egoism psychological egoism in a paper prepared in 1958 for the benefit of students at brown, feinberg seeks to refute the philosophical theory of psychological egoism, which in his opinion is fallacious. Jan, 2017 3 clearly outline major logical distinctions and 3 main arguments for egoism 4 clearly explain the problem with each argument and why p egoism is probably false 5 explore the scientific. To make this website work, we log user data and share it with processors. Psychological egoism is sometimes s tated as the claim that every human. Because psychological egoism states that all motivations are, in the final analysis, selfish, it is reductive. Feinberg clarifies psychological egoism and maintains that there are several things wrong with this theory. He re jected the view that we act only in our own selfinterest. A more commonly held subset of this belief is psychological egoistic hedonism, which says that we only act for our own pleasure.
Feinberg psychological egoism pdf psychological egoism is the doctrine that the only thing anyone is capable of desiring or pursuing ultimately is. So far as he can tell, there are four primary arguments for it. However, since feinberg s aim was limited to defending psychological altruism, he used this argument only to prove that it. Feinberg studied at the university of michiganwriting his dissertation on the philosophy of the harvard professor ralph barton perry under the supervision of charles stevenson. Aug 30, 2019 joel feinberg psychological egoism pdf what is psychological egoism, and how does it differ from ethical egoism. Altruistic acts involve putting others interests ahead of your own altruism 4. Joel feinberg presents a multitude of arguments against psychological egoistic hedonism.
Psychological egoism elliott sober psycliological egoism is a theory about motivation that claims that all of our ulti mate desires are selfdirected. A recent defense of a form of psychological egoism that appeals to introspection and the purported unintelligibility of altruistic explanations of actions. While egoism tends to be viewed as natural and unproblematic, altruism has always been treated with suspicion, and it has often been argued that apparent cases of altruistic behaviour might really just be some special form of egoism. Introduction to psychological egoism tracy kline this selection is part of a larger article that appeared on the original sophia project in 2000.
Joel feinberg bibliography compiled by keith burgess. As feinberg states, an exclusive desire for happiness is the surest way to prevent happiness from coming into being. Feinberg and rachels both play fast and loose with these distinctions. View enhanced pdf access article on wiley online library html view download pdf for offline viewing. Tilley 2015 british journal for the history of philosophy 23 1. Psychological egoism, as we discussed it, is the view that every person acts, ultimately, only for selfish reasons joel feinberg rejects psychological egoism on the grounds that. Psychological egoism involves aspects of human nature, whereas ethical egoism involves morality.