{"id":690,"date":"2025-03-13T18:56:37","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T18:56:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/chapter\/7-7-chapter-glossary\/"},"modified":"2025-04-02T21:43:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T21:43:00","slug":"7-7-chapter-glossary","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/chapter\/7-7-chapter-glossary\/","title":{"raw":"7.5 Chapter Glossary","rendered":"7.5 Chapter Glossary"},"content":{"raw":"
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Altruism<\/strong> - The idea that the moral value of an action is based solely on its impact on others, regardless of the consequences for the actor.<\/p>\r\nCapitalists' Argument<\/strong> - An argument for ethical egoism claims that when individuals pursue their own self-interest within a free market system, through competition and the \"invisible hand\" of economics, it ultimately leads to the greatest benefit for society as a whole, making pursuing personal gain morally justifiable; essentially, arguing that by focusing on what is best for oneself, one inadvertently contributes to the greater good.\r\n\r\nConsequentialism<\/strong> - Any ethical theory that judges whether an action is right or wrong based on its consequences. Consequentialism holds that an action is good if it produces more benefit than harm, and bad if it causes more harm than benefit.\r\n\r\nEthical Egoism<\/strong> - The normative position that moral agents ought to act in their own self-interest. It differs from psychological egoism, which claims that people can only act in their self-interest.\r\n\r\nObjectivist Ethics<\/strong> - Ayn Rand's Objectivist ethics is a philosophy that states a person's primary moral obligation is to achieve their own well-being, meaning that individuals should act in their rational self-interest and prioritize their own life as the ultimate value, rejecting altruism and self-sacrifice in favor of personal achievement and productivity; it emphasizes virtues like rationality, independence, integrity, and honesty as key components of a moral life.\r\n\r\nPsychological Egoism<\/strong> - Psychological egoism is the thesis that we are always deep down motivated by what we perceive to be in our own self-interest. Psychological altruism, on the other hand, is the view that sometimes we can have ultimately altruistic motives.\r\n\r\nRand's Argument<\/strong> - Ayn Rand\u2019s argument for ethical egoism that says individuals should prioritize their own happiness and well-being as the highest moral value, meaning one should act in their own self-interest without sacrificing themselves for others, and that this pursuit of personal fulfillment ultimately benefits society through productive and rational behavior; she believes that altruism, or self-sacrifice, is morally wrong and undermines individual flourishing.\r\n\r\nRational Self-Interest<\/strong> - A theory that people make decisions that are in their own best interest, and that these decisions can improve the status of both parties involved. It's based on the assumption that people will act rationally and in their own self-interest.\r\n\r\nRevisionist Argument<\/strong> - An attempt to justify Ethical Egoism by arguing that all moral rules, if revised, will support egoism.\r\n\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"

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Altruism<\/strong> – The idea that the moral value of an action is based solely on its impact on others, regardless of the consequences for the actor.<\/p>\n

Capitalists’ Argument<\/strong> – An argument for ethical egoism claims that when individuals pursue their own self-interest within a free market system, through competition and the “invisible hand” of economics, it ultimately leads to the greatest benefit for society as a whole, making pursuing personal gain morally justifiable; essentially, arguing that by focusing on what is best for oneself, one inadvertently contributes to the greater good.<\/p>\n

Consequentialism<\/strong> – Any ethical theory that judges whether an action is right or wrong based on its consequences. Consequentialism holds that an action is good if it produces more benefit than harm, and bad if it causes more harm than benefit.<\/p>\n

Ethical Egoism<\/strong> – The normative position that moral agents ought to act in their own self-interest. It differs from psychological egoism, which claims that people can only act in their self-interest.<\/p>\n

Objectivist Ethics<\/strong> – Ayn Rand’s Objectivist ethics is a philosophy that states a person’s primary moral obligation is to achieve their own well-being, meaning that individuals should act in their rational self-interest and prioritize their own life as the ultimate value, rejecting altruism and self-sacrifice in favor of personal achievement and productivity; it emphasizes virtues like rationality, independence, integrity, and honesty as key components of a moral life.<\/p>\n

Psychological Egoism<\/strong> – Psychological egoism is the thesis that we are always deep down motivated by what we perceive to be in our own self-interest. Psychological altruism, on the other hand, is the view that sometimes we can have ultimately altruistic motives.<\/p>\n

Rand’s Argument<\/strong> – Ayn Rand\u2019s argument for ethical egoism that says individuals should prioritize their own happiness and well-being as the highest moral value, meaning one should act in their own self-interest without sacrificing themselves for others, and that this pursuit of personal fulfillment ultimately benefits society through productive and rational behavior; she believes that altruism, or self-sacrifice, is morally wrong and undermines individual flourishing.<\/p>\n

Rational Self-Interest<\/strong> – A theory that people make decisions that are in their own best interest, and that these decisions can improve the status of both parties involved. It’s based on the assumption that people will act rationally and in their own self-interest.<\/p>\n

Revisionist Argument<\/strong> – An attempt to justify Ethical Egoism by arguing that all moral rules, if revised, will support egoism.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"menu_order":24,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-690","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":903,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1289,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/690\/revisions\/1289"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/903"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/690\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=690"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=690"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}