Ethical Egoism of Humans - Essay Example

Every activity or action one engages in, may it service hours or resources usually has a motivation tied to them, and effects that may result from the action.

In such cases, some benefits and costs accompany every form of action. For example, while working at the Single Stop in Miami Dade College Kendal campus, it was clear that every activity had both benefits and costs. First, experience gained in working is very essential as one gets exposure to various challenges and thereby learning ways of overcoming them. Secondly, one gains the ability to manage time and interact with people with different views and ideas that are usually helpful in life.

It is also motivating to learn that through own efforts somebody else lives a better life through the role one played in their life's success. In most cases, every action will have a cost under whatever circumstances. The costs are sometimes minimal and outdone by the benefits, and act as a motivation to others in most cases. Time is one of the major costs of engaging in an activity. It is a challenge to allocate time to assist others especially when there are no benefits tied to the activity.

Engaging in an activity also requires the dedication of own efforts, and resources such as money, or knowledge. These costs in most cases are necessary to part with in daily lives. The theory of ethical egoism offers a suitable platform for justification in every action one engages in. The theory states that it is sufficient and necessary for action to stand as morally right if it maximizes one’s self-interest (Shaffer-Landau 193). It takes two versions the individual and the universal ethical egoism.

In individual ethical egoism, one should check on one’s interests, and one should concern with others only if the extent of involvement contributes to own interests. In universal ethical egoism, everybody must act in their best self-interest and ought to concern about others only if the extent of concern contributes to their self-interests. Thus, the theory outlines that before engaging in action it is necessary to evaluate the benefits and the costs attached. If the costs exceed the benefits, then it is not worth engaging in the action.

According to Shaffer-Landau (193), the best argument of ethical egoism indicates that own moral obligation offers certain reasons and those reasons arise from self-interest. However, the argument that everything would be morally right if people were all ethical egoists has its share. Thus, before engaging in any action it is important to evaluate the reasons for the action. If the reason bears the best of own interests, then it is worth engaging in the action. While working at the Single Stop, I realized that in doing service to others, nothing is morally wrong (Shaffer-Landau 194).

In the world, one can never survive alone and requires the help of others; it is not because of what one gain but its human to do so. For example, most of the students I assisted would not have accessed financial aid to help them learn but through my help, many acquired government aids and I had the self-satisfaction as a human being that I assisted helpless people. The egoist argument that it is morally wrong to help others has a little base and is weak. In the process of helping the students, I learned the many challenges people face and how to handle people from different settings.