Egoism and the Limits of Ethics

Abstract

The author discusses his experiences as the son of divorced parents, one a proud egoist and the other a dutiful altruist, and the resultant challenges in his own romantic life. Based on research from evolutionary psychology, he argues that ethical egoists and their critics have typically committed the same core error. By imputing a false dichotomy between ‘selfishness’ and ‘altruism,’ all sides have obscured the motivational intricacy of human behavior and the moral nuance entailed. How much of your own needs and happiness should be sacrificed for those you love? Drawing on Aristotelian insight, the author concludes that this is one of the most confounding ethical quandaries in life--which no moral theory can conclusively resolve.