Rule egoism is the doctrine under which an individual evaluates the optimal set of rules based on whether conformity to those rules would bring the most benefit to themselves. An action, therefore, is right if it promotes one's welfare at least as well as any alternative rule available to them. It is associated with foundational egoism, which maintains that normative factors must be grounded in consideration of the agent's well-being - something that rule egoism does but in a way that avoids factoral egoism.
Development
Although it is claimed that
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes ( ; 5 April 1588 – 4 December 1679) was an English philosopher, best known for his 1651 book ''Leviathan (Hobbes book), Leviathan'', in which he expounds an influential formulation of social contract theory. He is considered t ...
is a rule-egoist, the term "rule egoism" was first coined by
Richard Brandt in his work "Rationality, Egoism, and Morality, where it was briefly mentioned.
See also
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Enlightened self-interest
Enlightened self-interest is a philosophy in ethics which states that persons who act to further the interests of others (or the interests of the group or groups to which they belong) ultimately serve their own self-interest.
It has often been ...
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Ethical egoism
In ethical philosophy, ethical egoism is 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. Ethical ego ...
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Psychological egoism
Psychological egoism is the view that humans are always motivated by self-interest and selfishness, even in what seem to be acts of altruism. It claims that, when people choose to help others, they do so ultimately because of the personal benefit ...
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Rational egoism
Rational egoism (also called rational selfishness) is the principle that an action is rational if and only if it maximizes one's self-interest.Baier (1990), p. 201; Gert (1998), p. 69; Shaver (2002), §3; Moseley (2006), §2. As such, it is consi ...
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Rule utilitarianism
Rule utilitarianism is a form of utilitarianism that says an action is right as it conforms to a rule that leads to the greatest good, or that "the rightness or wrongness of a particular action is a function of the correctness of the rule of which ...
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Virtue ethics
Virtue ethics (also aretaic ethics, from Greek []) is a philosophical approach that treats virtue and moral character, character as the primary subjects of ethics, in contrast to other ethical systems that put consequences of voluntary acts, pri ...
References
Egoism
Ethical theories
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