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.