Ethics & Metaethics · Ground of Rightness

Ethical Egoism

What each person ought to do is maximize their own interest.

What it claims

Ethical egoism claims that what is morally required of each agent is the act that maximizes their own long-term interest. Unlike psychological egoism, which says people in fact behave this way, this is a normative claim that they ought to. What egoism denies is the idea that others' interests give me reasons independently of my own.

Nearby positions

Key thinkers

Thomas Hobbes · Max Stirner · Ayn Rand · David Gauthier · Henry Sidgwick