In the critique “Egoism and Altruism,” Louis P. Pojman strongly rejects the idea of Ayn Rand that everyone should have and egoist morality by explaining the “false dilemma” created between egoism and altruism. He explains that her idea of egoism stating that she believes “selfishness is a virtue and altruism is a vice.” He argues that while some egoist traits are morally necessary, such as self-love and self-interest, they should not be brought about or acted upon at the cost of someone else’s happiness. The idea that one ought to “love thy neighbor as yourself” means to treat everyone with the same respect and dignity that you treat yourself with, not to harm a stranger for your own happiness or joy. He argues against Rand’s theory by stating…
Initially, the interview began with a brief history of Nate Boyer’s pasts experiences – from enlisting in the army to becoming a walk-on for the University of Texas. However, he provided great insight to how he achieved such level of success. Nate’s key principles of leadership seemed to be somewhat parallel to that of Ryan Holiday’s Ego is the Enemy and other class concepts.…
The word ‘ego’ has a very broad and clouded meaning. Even though the dictionary defines it as a person's sense of self-esteem or self-importance; most of us use it today to describe someone who is overly confident or only cares about themselves. Today, we all are so afraid of thinking of ourselves to avoid being labeled as an egoist but in reality, it is not a bad thing to have an ego. In the novel Anthem, by Ayn Rand, the main character lives in a society where egos don't even exist. He runs away and soon discovers what it means to have an ego.…
Ego The word ego has a negative connotation and is usually associated with greed, and selfishness. However, in the book Anthem by Ayn Rand the word ego itself is not only frowned upon but is banned from the public by the collectivist government. Which makes Prometheus hated for he is an egoist. This means that Prometheus is independent, would rather create rather than copy others, and believes in self-interest above others.…
An egoist is a believer in egoism, but what is egoism? Merriam-Webster has two definitions for this word, the first one being that egoism…
Why is ego such a terrible word, and why do so many people despise this simple three letter word? Based on both the connotative and denotative meanings of ego and egoist, many would assume they are horrible words, and they would guess that Prometheus is an egoist because he wants to be his own human being, not controlled by others. One doesn’t want people to be all about themselves, but at the same time do one really want someone all up in his or her business? There is a happy medium that can be obtained, but only if one truly knows the real meanings of the words, and that the surface level meanings don’t always accurately depict the words. By its denotative meaning, ego’s definition is simply “the “I” or self of any person; a person as thinking,…
Anthem is a book written by Ayn Rand, who was a Russian novelist and philosopher, she was born in Russia during the Socialist revolution. This novel was first published in 1937 in England. This book was Rand’s political manifesto of what she experienced in her life in Russia during the revolution. This story is in a society which did not believe in individualism and told everyone what to do. It is about a boy named Equality 7-2521, who wanted to look beyond of what society imposed on him.…
Ethical egoism is a moral theory focused on improving a person’s well-being. There are many arguments for ethical egoism such as the self reliance argument and the best argument for ethical egoism, both presented by Shafer-Landau in The Fundamentals of Ethics. However, in this paper I will discuss how objections presented by Shafer-Landau and Dr. Thomas Carson are fatal to ethical egoism, while keeping in mind arguments for ethical egoism. I will discuss objections such as ethical egoism permitting or sometimes requiring murder, theft, or rape, in order to promote oneself’s well-being, egoists subconscious belief of their lives being more important than others, and an argument presented in class that if egoists must do what is best for their…
How Equality 7-2521 is an Egoist Being an egoist can be defined as having a lot of self pride and self importance that only benefits one’s self being over others. Equality is an egotist because egotists have an habit of talking about themselves in a self promoting fashion that resembles an ad man promoting a products futhermore a egotist has a high level of confidence as well as being self centered and self loving. They are usually difficult people to handle because they easily lose their temper insulting and berating any and everyone in listening proximity. Equality is a very unique person in the society because he breaks all the rules and boundaries and expects to be accepted as someone better than everyone else without punishment.…
The Central Ego Fairbairn postulates the role of the central ego deriving from a nurturing environment and a secure attachment, fill with good, comforting, loving childhood relationships. Furthermore, Fairbairn argues that is in these scenarios that a good sense of self and others are developed along with a stable ego function (Celani,1993; Greenberg, Mitchell, 1983; St. Clair, 2004). This also allows for the normal development of frustration tolerance, ability to comfort one-self, and the ability to integrate good and bad emotions in a healthy way (Dantes,) all which are typically absent in those suffering from BPD.…
In this paper, I will argue that people who should be considered to be altruistic are those who act magnanimously to those outside of their family or general social group. I will use examples such as kin selection, animal altruism, and arguments against psychological egoism to assist in proving my thesis to be true. I will also address a counter argument made by some psychological egoists who believe that due to most people feeling pleasure while doing good things for others, that there are no people only act selfishly. I will reference James Rachel ’s essay “Psychological Egoism” to help enhance my theory that not all acts must be out of self interest.…
According to some, “Ego means Self-Identification with thinking to be trapped in thought which means to have a mental imagine of “me” based on thought and emotions. So ego is there in the absence of a witnessing presence.” (Eckhart Tolle). Soul searching and self-identification are definitions of phases every one of us experiences while going through life. I believe that many of us have had that certain memory playback whether it is driving along the street we grew up on or certain places we remember going to as kids we can’t help but think of the memories we once went through the good and the bad memories they still play back in our minds.…
Ego is the aspect of the psychological personality that keeps the psyche in check between the unrealistic id and what is realistic. Ralph’s ego is very notable throughout this novel because he balances his id and superego well. At one point Ralph replies to someone “‘This is our island. It’s a good island.…
What makes one an egoist? Attitude and personality, or actions and words? Is being an egoist immoral? To Prometheus, having an ego is respectable. It’s simply another way to say the forbidden word, “I”.…