Ethical Egoism In Gyges Of Lydia

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An issue of morality has been the center of philosophical debate for a long time; Plato uses the story of Gyges of Lydia in order to portray that moral ones will suffer behind while the immoral benefit. If people act strictly for their own betterment, the justice seems to fail. However, morality could be explained by Ethical Egoism, an idea that emphasizes one’s self-interest. Before jumping into Ethical Egoism, it is imperative to define what morality entails. To our common sense, people strive to help each other when an opportunity arises. For instance, as college students in the U.S., the students are always involved in various social groups, advocating certain socio-economic groups that exist. While pursuing the justice, people stumble …show more content…

Contrary to common misunderstanding, ethical egoism, unlike Psychological Egoism, explains how people ought to behave, not their actual behavior. Even though the theory accentuates that a person’s sole duty is to fulfill one’s self-interest, it does not state that one has to avoid actions that could aid others. To be specific, theoretically, politicians are people who represent their jurisdiction, helping their citizens to achieve overall well-being. Under such condition, even if their support for certain bills does not provide immediate benefit to themselves, their actions, in a long run, help them to accomplish elevated status as …show more content…

In a purely economic sense, people always create trade-offs when the interaction occurs: people give up some opportunity for fulfillment of other. When people interact with each other for their own benefits, people negotiate and provides a certain set of rules that would benefit each party, a similar notion to a very reason that the laws and orders exist (Social Contract Theory). Consequently, people will be able to retain mutually beneficial relationship that could bring each other closer and engaged. Such instance can be seen in various cases, including recent rise of East Asian countries, in which the nations were able to increase their socio-economic stance through the trade and