Contemporary Moral Problems by:Francisco Ma. T. GuisonITETHIC 3
rd
Term, S.Y 2008-2009 Page 3
Book Review: James Rachels: Egoism and Moral Scepticism
Book: Contemporary Moral Problems
Library Reference:
Amazon Reference:http://www.amazon.com/Contemporary-Moral-Problems-James-White/dp/0534584306/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233793391&sr=8-1Quote:
“The moral institution of life”
It is true that this is a full moral institution of life. We are basing our beliefs here because we want it toapply in our own personal way. In this discussion, we are exploring how to use our respective egoism andmoral scepticsm to be able to understand our beliefs in life.
Learning Expectations
•
I want to learn how James Rachel came to this idea?
•
The difference of psychological Egoism and ethical egoism?
•
Why is it called moral institution of life?
Review:
The first topic of this chapter discussed about the Egoism and Moral Scepticism. First of all, we need todefine what Egoism is and how egoism can affect our lives. Egoism is a study or a doctrine of morals thatare focuses in individual interests. The individual interest is the base part of the human why they need tobecome happier in life. The human are very sensitive to their interests and this means that their interestsare the only key to continue their respective lives. One’s own interests are greater important than anyother important things existed. If people ask you what are your interests, you will proudly answer yourinterests with a description as much as possible so that the one you are talking to will also have aninterest of you. If the two of you has the same interest, then it is a great chance that you have a newfriend because of your common interests. That’s the concept of interest with egoism.Going back to the book, stated here that Psychological egoism is the view that all human are selfish ineverything that they do. It is self interest per se, because every human has a way to have interest ofsomething. Interest that is something to be proud of and this interest are sometimes useful to get theinterest of the public. “Men are acting in ways apparently calculated to benefit others.” This means thatwe have different perspective, different point of view in interests that’s why it is stated that men are actingways. The calculated to benefit others are somewhat different. The interest of an individual can bebenefited by other person. For example, this person is very dedicated to his work and at the same time,he has also great interest with his work, his co-worker, honestly did not like his work and has no interestof his work at all. So his co-worker needs to talk to the one who has more interest in their work. As theywork together, the outcome is that the co-worker is very dependent on him. As a result, their work couldbe unproductive because the focus element is not present on their respective work. That’s thePsychological Egoism means and explanation of this book. On the other hand, Ethical Egoism is thecontrast of Psychological egoism. “A normative view about how men ought to act.” It means that the manis just always justified or defensible on what interests he/she may have regardless the effect of others.They consider their interests to be as is. Justified on what they have, and interest will keep up the reasonwhy they want to be in this life.
Leave a Comment