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Has Joel Feinberg Refuted Psychological Egoism?

Zhizhao Zhang
Scientific Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, (2024), Vol.6, No.12, pp.73-78
Published: December 12, 2024
DOI: 10.54691/ant51d45
PDF: Download Full Text PDF
Abstract

It’s roughly claimed by psychological egoism that all voluntary actions are driven by egoistic motives. Joel Feinberg is distinguished for his aggressive refutation against psychological egoism. In his article “Psychological Egoism”, he mainly establishes two arguments: one is against psychological hedonism. Feinberg asserts that pleasure is just by-product of satisfaction of other desires. Another view is that psychological egoism is only an analytical statement. In response to that, the paper intends to formulate two refutations against the arguments respectively to show that Feinberg doesn’t prove pleasure cannot be the ultimate desire and that the psychological egoism is not analytic statement.

Keywords: Joel Feinberg, Psychological Egoism, tautology.
APA Citation: Zhizhao Zhang (2024). Has Joel Feinberg Refuted Psychological Egoism?. Scientific Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 6(12), 73-78. https://doi.org/10.54691/ant51d45

References

  1. Feinberg, Joel ([1965] 2013). Psychological Egoism. In Ethical Theory: An Anthology, ed. Russ Shafer-Landau, 167-177.
  2. Butler, Joseph ([1726] 1991). Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel. Reprinted in part in Raphael (1991), Vol. I, pp. 325–377.
  3. Sidgwick, Henry (1874/1907). The Methods of Ethics, 7th ed. Indianapolis: Hackett Publish Company. (Reprinted in 1962 from the printing by Macmillan and Co., Ltd. First edition published in 1874.)
  4. Mercer, M. (1998). Psychological Egoism and Its Critics. The Southern Journal of Philosophy, 36: 557-576
  5. May, J. (2011b). Egoism, Empathy, and Self-other Merging. The Southern Journal of Philosophy, 49: 25-39
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