Essays on Psychological egoism

“Psychological egoism is often seen as a hard-headed understanding of how the world works, a refusal to be anyone’s sucker. But it does not really explain human psychology, or any contemporary morality. Many people see their ethics as a matter of enlightened self-interest, but much of what they do is against their interest, from a…

Imagine that you’re walking down a crowded street and an old woman with bags in her hand is walking towards you. The handles on her bags break, and all of her belongings go tumbling to the ground. People walk by, look at her, and keep walking. Unlike them, you stop and help her pick everything…

Generally, every society has certain actions that are agreed upon as either being selfish or selfless. Psychological egoists try to raise questions about whether selflessness is even a possibility. James Rachel on the other hand tries to refute their argument. He believes that psychological egoism is the viewpoint that everything you do is selfish, because…

What are friends for and how can a friendship be tested? By behaving altruistically, would be the most common answer and by sacrificing one”s interests in favour of one”s friends. Friendship implies the converse of egoism, both psychologically and ethically. But then we say that the dog is “man”s best friend”. After all, it is…

Any Rand’s main philosophy was Objectivism. Rand characterized Objectivism as a philosophy for living on earth, grounded in reality, and aimed at defining human nature and the nature of the world in which we live. “My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral…

Human Observation Project General Psychology Psyc 2301 Jazmin Rolon 20 August 2012 I. Problem: Prosocial behavior refers to “voluntary actions that are intended to help or benefit another individual or group of individuals” (Eisenberg and Mussen 1989). This definition refers to consequences of the people who do the actions rather than the motivations behind those…

In the Fall of 1959, John Howard Griffin set out on a journey of discovery. A discovery of his own nature, as well as a discovery of human nature. With the help of a friend, Griffin transformed his white male body into that of an African-American male body. Through a series of medical treatments, the…