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Psychological egoism is the view that humans are always motivated by self-interest and selfishness, even in what seem to be acts of altruism. 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 doing so.
Stirner's egoism is centered on what he calls Eigenheit ('Ownness' or autonomy). This 'Ownness' is a feature of a more advanced stage of human personal and historical development. It is the groundwork for our world-view. Stirner's Egoism is a descriptive psychological egoist, though he differentiates between conscious and involuntary egoism.
Psychological egoism is the belief that humans are always motivated by self-interest. In a related quote, Joel Feinberg , in his 1958 paper "Psychological Egoism" , embraces a similar critique by drawing attention to the infinite regress of psychological egoism:
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy states that "ethical egoism might also apply to things other than acts, such as rules or character traits" but that such variants are uncommon. [2] Furthermore, conditional egoism is a consequentialist form of ethical egoism which holds that egoism is morally right if it leads to morally acceptable ends. [1]
Legalism is a Chinese political philosophy that holds that self-interest underlies human nature and therefore human behavior. [1] It is axiomatic in Legalism that a government can not truly be staffed by upright and trustworthy men of service, because every member of the elite—like any member of society—will pursue their own interests and thus must be employed for their interests. [2]
These works examine how the laws of motion influence human perception, behaviour and action, which then determine how individuals interact. [5] The Elements of Law provides insight into Hobbes’s moral philosophy through ideas of sensation, pleasure, passion, pain, memory and reason. [6]
Psychological egoism explains all scenarios entirely in terms of selfish motivations (e.g., that acting for one's own purposes is an act of self-interest); however, critics charge that in doing so they are redefining selfishness to the point where it encompasses all motivated actions and thus makes the term meaningless.
Rational egoism (also called rational selfishness) is the principle that an action is rational if and only if it maximizes one's self-interest. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] As such, it is considered a normative form of egoism , [ 3 ] though historically has been associated with both positive and normative forms. [ 4 ]