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Ethical Egoism: Self-Interest
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Ethical egoism is present in the philosophies of individuals such as Friedrich Nietzsche and Max Stirner (who was the first philosopher to call himself an egoist). Others, such as Ayn Rand, Thomas Hobbes, and David Gauthier, have argued that the conflicts which arise when people each pursue their own ends can be resolved for the best of each individual only if they all voluntarily forgo some of their aims — that is, one's self-interest is often best pursued by allowing others to pursue their self-interest as well so that liberty is equalized among individuals. Sacrificing one's short-term self-interest in order to maximize one's long-term self-interest is known as "rational self-interest." And, this is the idea behind most philosophers' advocacy of ethical egoism.
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Ethical egoism prescribes that individuals take those actions that further their self-interest. Ethical egoism does not necessitate that individuals disregard the well-being of others, nor does it require that an individual refrain from taking the well-being of others into consideration. It allows for the possibility of either as long it is efficacious in satisfying self-interest. The notion that taking the interests of others into consideration is one's best self-interest is known as the doctrine of "rational self-interest." For some, it is the philosophical basis of their espousal of libertarianism which advocates that individuals do not coercively prevent others from exercising freedom of action (others base libertarianism on deontological moral principles, natural law, or utilitarianism).
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Egoism is the position in philosophy that all human conduct is based upon self-interest, contrasted with the ethical philosophy of altruism, which argues that ethical acts are those which are based upon the interests of others. In psychology, this is simply made as an observation and point of departure for interpreting events. In ethics, it is advanced as a normative theory by which actions are judged based on whether it was done for the sake of the self or for the sake of others.
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Ethical egoism is the normative ethical position that moral agents ought to do what is in their own self-interest. It is important to distinguish this from psychological egoism, the claim that people can only act in their own interest. Psychological egoism is a claim about how people [D]o act, not a claim about how they ought to act. Ethical egoism is distinct from rational egoism (which holds that it is rational to act in one's self-interest) and individualism, neither of which posit that acting in one's self-interest is necessary to act in a morally right way.
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[One] real world obstacle to ethical egoism is that what is best for the individual is seldom best for the larger community, as a whole. It’s convenient for people to drive their cars from home to work and back, and bypass public transport. In the privacy of their own car, comforted by air-conditioning or heat at their control, they can listen to what music or radio station they wish and eat what they wish, without concern for others. If everyone decided this way, it would result in excessive traffic, as it does, and increase the risk for global warming, as it does. Providing and preserving roads for excessive traffic places a heavy load on taxpayers; global warming overloads the medical system. Individual self-interest and societal best interests conflict; what is in the best interest of one person, at times, is not necessarily in the best interest of society.
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Ethical egoism is the view that one [O]ught to do what is in one's own self-interest, if necessary to the exclusion of what is (or seems to be) in other people's interests. This can be contrasted with both altruism and psychological egoism. A philosophy holding that one should be honest, just, benevolent etc., because those virtues serve one's self-interest is egoistic; one holding that one should practice those virtues for reasons other than self-interest is not egoistic.
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