discount fitness equipment
Discount Fitness Equipment Ab Exercise Equipment
Related Topics:
fitness equipment
discount fitness equipment
exercise equipment
home fitness equipment
home gyms
treadmills
fitness
exercise
home exercise equipment
gyms
gym equipment
body solid
elliptical
equipment
free weights
dumbbells
discount exercise equipment
home gym equipment
discount home gyms
exercise bike
gym
discount
exercise equipment for sale
Financing
free weight benches
balance boards
sale
commercial fitness equipment
home gym exercise equipment
treadmill
boxing
machine
leg
best home exercise equipment
best home fitness equipment
benches
steppers
pilates
powertec
fitness equipment online
|
Discount Fitness Equipment Ab Exercise Equipment discount fitness equipment
.
Discount Fitness Equipment Ab Exercise Equipment discount fitness equipment Information
Psychological Egoism: Fact or Fiction??
The descriptive claim made by
Psychological Egoists is that humans, by nature, are motivated only by
self-interest. Any act, no matter how altruistic it may seem on the outside is
actually only a disguise for a selfish desire such as recognition, avoiding
guilt, reward or sense of personal 'goodness' or morality. For example, Mother
Teresa is just using the poor for her own long-term spiritual gain. Being a
universal claim, it could falter with a single counterexample. And being that I
believe this claim to be bunk I will tell you why!
If I help a friend out of
trouble, there is a chance that I would feel happy afterwards. But was that
happiness the motive for my actions or just the result? I didn't save my friend
in order to feel good; rather, I feel good because I helped my friend.
Psychological egoism doesn't have an empirical or scientific leg to stand on.
Furthermore, how can one know with any certainty that they are acting in their
ultimate self-interest? What they do could me in their immediate self-interest,
but could work against them in the future, knowingly or unknowingly.
Also,
when a situation arises in which one must make a split decision, does the
psychological egoist expect a human to deliberate whether the action is in their
self-interest or not? For example, if I see my child run out onto a busy street
and I can see that if I run out and grab her I can save her life and if I do
not, my child will be squished by a speeding car. Do I, as the egoist would
expect, take the time to deliberate that saving my child will result in all
kinds of good for both her and I? No, I rush out and grab her in an instant and
the good comes later. Now of course it is true that we sometimes get
satisfaction and/or good feelings from acting unselfishly, but it would be a
post hoc fallacy to say that we perform unselfish acts solely for the sake of
that satisfaction. Also, self-interest and an interest for the welfare of others
can certainly be bedfellows, and not strange ones. Using the shopkeeper example,
he could opt never cheat his customers simply because he knows that honesty is
good for business. He could cheat his customers and make a boatload of money,
but he knows that it is wrong to cheat and lie to people – it hurts them, is
unfair and may make him feel guilty. So, self-interest or selfishness is not the
ONLY motivation for his morally sound decision.
Much we do is motivated by
self-interest, but not solely and independently. I believe that altruism does
exist and that psychological egoism fails without the 'method of reinterpreting
motives.' We take pleasure in or derive satisfaction from things, actions or
experiences because we desire them, we don't desire them because of the result.
|
