what is ethical egoism

Ethical egoism is a normative position in ethical philosophy that holds that moral agents ought to act in their own self-interest. It is different from psychological egoism, which claims that people can only act in their self-interest. Ethical egoism also differs from rational egoism, which holds that it is rational to act in ones self-interest. Ethical egoism holds that actions whose consequences will benefit the doer are ethical. There are three categories of ethical egoism: individual, personal, and universal. An individual ethical egoist would hold that all people should do whatever benefits "my" (the individuals) self-interest; a personal ethical egoist would hold that they should act in their self-interest, but would make no claims about what anyone else ought to do; a universal ethical egoist would argue that everyone should act in ways that are in their self-interest. Ethical egoism is often used as the philosophical basis for support of right-libertarianism and individualist anarchism. However, there are some problems with ethical egoism. One problem is that an ethical egoist would not want ethical egoism to be universalized, as it would be in the egoists best self-interest if others acted altruistically towards them. Another problem is that ethical egoism does not count as a moral theory.