Compose a 1750 words essay on The moral theory ethical egoism:in the business of life. Needs to be plagiarism free!Download file to see previous pages Examples of hypothetical and real situations will

Compose a 1750 words essay on The moral theory ethical egoism:in the business of life. Needs to be plagiarism free!

Examples of hypothetical and real situations will be used to illustrate personal understanding and interpretation. The contention is that this theory can only work positively in business decisions if all parties concerned operate from the same rational basis, with similar moral values.Ethical egoism, in simple terms, might be described as "looking out for number one" by following the doctrine that everything we do 'should' be in our own best interests because we know our own goals and should pursue them. According to Moseley (2006), "The individual aims at her own greatest good." And - "it is always moral to promote one's own good, and it is never moral not to promote it." So the theory suggests that it is morally right to be self-serving, that should be the motivation. However, it does not end there, for the idea that developing oneself, enhancing life, taking steps to achieve goals, make the individual a better person, and this impacts for the good on others. The case of Bill Gates of Microsoft comes to mind. here is someone who set out to achieve his goals, who might be perceived as an ethical egoist and who now, uses his fortune to help others. He might actually be practicing altruism, the total opposite of egoism. It is necessary to look at definitions to relate to that idea. Egoism is linked to Freud, first of the great psychoanalysts. ...

This has to happen, for no business could operate otherwise, all morality and reason would go out the window. Care must be taken to differentiate between psychological and ethical egoism, the first operating from the premise of it just 'is' and the second from the idea of 'should'.

Ethics is a huge topic and many different philosophers have defined their views. In the case of ethical egoism, Aristotle's 'Nichomachean Ethics' (320 BC) fit closely. He believed that thinking well and doing virtuous acts led to happiness, but nobody can get there without other, external goods, of the material kind.

"for it is impossible, or not easy, to do noble acts without the proper

equipment. In many actions we use friends and riches and political

power as instruments.." (Aristotle, 320 BC)

It would seem that, like Bill Gates, once you have all the external riches, you can be happy in being virtuous and doing good acts. But the other side of the coin could be the Categorical Imperative of Immanuel Kant, which says duty over self is what we 'ought' to do. This might cause a re-think on the morality of ethical egoism.

"that a rational being is constrained by reason not to bend others to his own

purposes, not to enslave, abuse or exploit them." (Scruton, 1981, citing Kant).

In other words, he was putting forward a set of moral laws that everyone ought to adhere to and apply to others, expecting the same in return. Though big businesses appear to flout this law, it would seem to fit with the positive aspects of the underlying principle of ethical egoism, to do no harm and to work things out to the mutual benefit of all concerned.