E
GOISM AND MORAL SKEPTICISM
James Rachel
Quote: “
No one, it is commonly believed, would have such iron strength of mind as tostand fast in doing
right or keep his hands off other men’s goods, when he could go to
the market-place and fearlessly help himself to anything he wanted, enter houses andsleep with any woman he chose, set prisoners free and kill men at his pleasure, and in aword go about among men with the power of a god. He would behave no better than the
other; both would take the same course.”
Review:James Rachele is a university professor of philosophy at the university ofAlabama at Birmingham. Rachele examines psychological egoism and ethical egoism,two popular views used to attack conventional morality. Psychological egoism holds thatall human actions are self-interest, whereas ethical egoism says that all actions ought tobe self-interest. The legend of Gyges is one good example of egoism. In the real world,I would do the same if ever I have the same powers as Gyges. But maybe I would notlast that long, because I was raised well by my parents and still have conscience in me.Ihave learned the difference between ethical and psychological egoism. I also learnabout the different points of view of the author on how he viewed the situation.I also learned the basic human nature of selfishness and greed. But it is notalways about selfishness. There are just times that people seem to think that way,
maybe for some reasons we really can’t understand. I also learned that egoist are rare
in our society not all of us are like them. We as human being, often think about others1
st
before our self, or in some instance we think first of our self but think about othersnext. But it is normal because we are given the freedom to choose what we want to do.
But still there are limit on what we must argue. If the egoist really doesn’t care
aboutothers, then he just reach the limit. We as humans must also act accordingly to theactions of an individual.
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