Ethical Egoist

Initial Post Instructions

Rather than living in chaos, danger, and the hostility of our neighbors, we find ways to live together. It isn’t easy, but can we avoid doing so?

If everybody has self-interest in their own welfare and safety, then everybody also has self-interest in the welfare and safety of others. Self-interest involves community interest, and we must think about what we are willing to give up in order to get that safety and stability for ourselves, our families, our community, our nation, and even the world.

Thomas Hobbes and John Locke are just two examples of social contract moralists. Locke’s philosophy helped Thomas Jefferson formulate the United States Declaration of Independence. We are interested in what it means to live together in an orderly way under a social contract.

For the initial post, address one of the following sets of questions:

• What is a time when you or someone you know of experienced a conflict between duty to self and loyalty to the community? What would logical reasoning say should be done in that case? Why that? What would an Ethical Egoist say to do? Why would they say to do that? Note what you feel is the best course of action.
• What is a time when you or someone you know experienced a clash between professional duties and familial duties? Reference a professional code such as that of the American Nurses Association or American Bar Association in explaining the clash. What moral values should have been used in that case? Why those values? What would social contract ethics have said to have done? Why would social contract ethics say that? Note what you feel is the best course of action.
• Articulate and evaluate a time when you or someone you know saw personal obligations collide with national obligations. How did that tension involve differing positions on a moral debate? Did those positions rely on any key moral theories? If so, how so? If not, why not? Note what you feel is the best course of action.

What is a time when you or someone you know of experienced a conflict between duty to self and loyalty to the community? What would logical reasoning say should be done in that case? Why that? What would an Ethical Egoist say to do? Why would they say to do that? Note what you feel is the best course of action.

Introduction

There are times when you or someone you know of experienced a conflict between duty to self and loyalty to the community. What would logical reasoning say should be done in that case? Why that? What would an Ethical Egoist say to do? Why would they say to do that? Note what you feel is the best course of action.

What is a time when you or someone you know of experienced a conflict between duty to self and loyalty to the community?

You are at the grocery store and see a friend in the checkout line. You go up to him and say, “Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?” He says, “Sure.” You begin: “I just wanted to apologize for how I acted this morning. It was rude of me and I shouldn’t have done what I did.”

He responds by saying that it’s not necessary for you to apologize because he was just doing his job as an employee at the store (i.e., completing his shift), but if there were any problems later on down the line then he would take care of them himself before reporting them back up through official channels like HR or someone else within management who could assist with resolving any issues quicker than usual due to their knowledge base being more advanced than yours

What would logical reasoning say should be done in that case? Why that?

Logical reasoning would say that the person should do what is best for them. If they are not able to contribute to the community, they are not serving their purpose. The community is not served by a person who cannot contribute.

The Ethical Egoist would encourage both parties to compromise and find ways of reconciling their differences without having any permanent damage done either way.

What would an Ethical Egoist say to do? Why would they say to do that? Note what you feel is the best course of action.

The Ethical Egoist would say to do what is best for the individual, but what is also important is that it must be done in a way that benefits everyone involved. The reason this is so critical is because any action taken by one person will have an impact on others, which means that all people must work together if they want their community to survive.

If a person’s needs are not met, they will not be able to effectively contribute to the community

If a person’s needs are not met, they will not be able to effectively contribute to the community. This can result in both negative and positive outcomes for everyone involved. The negative outcome is that people become unhappy or even depressed, which makes them less productive. On the other hand, if you have an Ethical Egoist in your life (and this should be everyone!), then he/she will be able to meet his/her own needs without affecting anyone else’s happiness because he/she does not care about how others feel as long as he/she gets what he wants from life!

Another thing we need to consider here is how much time each person spends working on themselves versus how much time they spend helping others – which one do we want more? The answer depends on who you ask…

Conclusion

In this article, we discussed what is a time when you or someone you know of experienced a conflict between duty to self and loyalty to the community? What would logical reasoning say should be done in that case? Why that? What would an Ethical Egoist say to do? Why would they say to do that? Note what you feel is the best course of action.