Psychological Egoism
After reviewing Chapter 1 in your textbook and watching “Virtue Ethics,” find a contemporary article showing how the
theory of psychological egoism in a corporation resulted in an ethical dilemma.
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Is there a way that the decision-making process within a large corporation can overcome this fact of human
selfishness?
What would be a solution in this scenario?
How does the theory of psychological egoism fit within your personal body of ethics and values?
How does the theory of psychological egoism fit within the ethical structure of the company or organization
you work for now or have worked for in the past?
Your initial post should be at least 250 words in length. Support your claims with examples from required material(s)
and/or other scholarly resources, and properly cite any references. Respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts
by Day 7.
The fact of human selfishness within a company understood in the view of Adam Smith
is basically very interesting and responsible for the success of the company. As is it a
fact that excess in any behavior can be hurtful, excessive application of psychological
egoism can definitely result in an ethical dilemma.
An employer who decides that in other to afford a new jet he has to cut the salary of his
employee is applying psychological egoism. He was careless about the employees; all
he cares about is what he wanted. According to the class text book, the German
philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote that people were to be treated as an end, but never
merely as a means to an end (Fieser & Moseley 2012). The behavior of the employer
created an ethical dilemma that can only be overcome by the understanding that
personal gain should only be obtained by personal sacrifices
To a certain level I think that psychological egoism fit within my personal body of ethics
and values in the sense that as an economic agent, I have personal goals and interest
that I pursue, that I cannot label as being for the direct good of my community.
However, putting my individual goal of owing a nice car, or a pool table along with the
goals of other individuals create the mechanism that forms the back bones of our
society’s economic system.
As it pertains to my values, I can agree that most of the time charity is an act of
psychological egoism. Aside from the fact that as a Christian I believe that part of what I
have belongs to anybody who doesn’t have anything; When I give, it feels like planting
on earth so I could reap later on in the sky, and when I don’t give, I feel as though I
don’t deserve what I have. Therefore, giving is more often about me than the person in
need.
Within the ethical structure of the company that I work for, psychological egoism does
not fit at all, in my company our main and sole objective is to serve a nation regardless
of how we feel or does not feel.
Fieser, J. & Moseley, A. (2012). Introduction to business ethics. San Diego, CA:
Bridgepoint Education, Inc