Moral selfishness

Moral egoism, or ethical egoism, is a philosophical ethical doctrine that affirms that people must have the ethical social norm of acting for their own interest, and that This is the only moral way to act.

However, it allows you to optionally carry out actions that help others with the aim of helping us having a benefit for ourselves, taking it as a means to achieve something beneficial for ourselves. It affirms that the validity of a pixar theory or praxis is found in its direct contribution to the positive and responsible construction of the self or personal development.

The moral egoist is based on the affirmation of himself that makes him his own sovereign by making him aware of his moral and personal reality. Reality is that of his own existence and his living in a certain reality. It is linked to the moral dimension of forms of subjectivism or radical solipsism.

Private logic and self-construction

The sense of self and its interests can only be determined or interpreted by the self itself; Within this logic is the principle of moral action of the egoist. Phrases such as the personal is the real by Soren Kierkegaard or my cause is mine by Max Stirner reflect this criterion. The basis for judging one's benefit is the level of personal edification or development it produces on a material, intellectual and emotional level.

The construction of oneself is the result and objective of the responsible exercise of individual sovereignty when self-determination and self-realization are achieved through it. This ethical attitude of the moral egoist has been explained through identity figures such as: the unique or the subjective.

Types of moral egoism

Three different formulations of ethical or moral egoism have been identified:

• Individuals. An individual selfish ethics would celebrate that all people must do what benefits them.
• Staff. A selfish personal ethical asserts that he must act according to his own interest, but does not make assertions about what others should do.
• Universal. A selfish universal ethic argues that everyone must act in a way that is in their own interest.

A philosophy that maintains that one must be honest, fair and benevolent, because these virtues serve one's own benefit is selfish philosophy; Maintaining that these virtues should be practiced for reasons other than self-interest is not selfish philosophy.

Arguments in favor of ethical egoism

The majority of those who support ethical egoism think that the truth is very obvious and therefore no arguments are needed to prove it.

Three lines of reasoning are generally used in its favor:

The argument that altruism is counterproductive.

• The desires and needs of others are imperfectly known, therefore it is likely that in trying to help them with an altruistic purpose they will be harmed.

Offering charity is making a person dependent on another, telling them that they are not capable; Instead of thanking us, she will feel resentful of the help offered. Being aware of the well-being of others is an invasion of their privacy. If each person cared about their own interests, there would be an improvement in society. As Robert G. Olson says in his book The Morality of self-interest (1965): “The individual is more likely to contribute to social improvement when he rationally pursues his best long-term interests.”

The ethics of altruism is something destructive for society.

• Altruism causes dreams, projects, etc. to be abandoned by sacrificing their own lives to save others. Therefore in the ethics of altruism, the life of an individual or self-interest has no value and it must be willing to make a sacrifice to save others. However, in ethical selfishness, each person must watch for his own good; the individual is given a fundamental value.

Ethical egoism is compatible with common sense morality.

• It consists of obeying certain rules: fulfilling promises, not lying, not damaging, etc. all these duties or obligations result in a common purpose, which is the self-interest. Even so, some duties and obligations may go against self-interest.

The principle of ethical egoism leads to a golden rule of the Principle of Non-Aggression: "You should not do to others what you do not want them to do to you, if you do it, others will most likely do it to you' 3. 4;. Thus, certain rules or obligations must be followed where one should not harm others for one's own purpose or interest. This reasoning leads us to the following situation: If the ethical egoist were in such an advantageous position that it guaranteed his own safety from others, nothing would prevent him from doing to them what he would not want them to do to him, which is why moral egoism fits within of cultural relativism.

Arguments against ethical egoism

It is stated that ethical egoism cannot resolve conflicts of interest. Kurt Baier, writer of the book The Moral Point of View (1958) says that ethical egoism cannot be correct because it cannot provide solutions to conflicts of interest. That is, if we only took our own interests into account, we would never accept that they would be ruined, therefore, there could be no moral solutions to problems of interests. However, in response, supporters of ethical egoism affirm that the peaceful agreement or negotiation that allows a conflict of interest to be resolved can be beneficial for all the egoists involved. Authors such as David Gauthier, author of Morals by agreement (Gedisa, Barcelona, 1994), respond to criticisms against moral egoism by stating that the solution to conflicts of interest can be explained by interest.

The prisoner's dilemma, in game theory, shows that even though cooperative attitudes may involve an immediate sacrifice of individual interests, in the long term cooperation benefits all parties at play. Ethical egoists respond to this by saying that this turns out to be sociocentric egoism, which we call collusion.^{[citation needed]}

Ethical egoism in the individual says:

(A1) “We must act rationally.”

(A2) “The rational is to always look for one’s own interest.”

(A3) As (A1) and (A2) is true then “We must always look at one’s own interest.”

and they add "ethical egoism" (it really is altruism) in the social:

(A4) “Although altruism is right, we are not familiar with the desires and needs of others, so if we help them, we will be intruding into their lives and we will do them worse than good.”

(A5) “While helping others we do them well we are degrading them, stealing their dignity and self-respect; we are telling them that they are not competent to take care of themselves.”

(A6) As (A3) and (A4) and (A5) is true then “We must reject the policies that keep others in mind, because when everyone looks at their own interest it is more likely to contribute to social improvement.”

(A7) As (A6) is true then “We must promote a selfish society.”