Core framework
Ethical Egoism
Each ought to pursue their own long-run interest.
Guiding principle
The right action for any agent is the one that best promotes that agent's own long-term self-interest, properly understood.
Key thinkers
Thomas Hobbes (descriptively) · Ayn Rand · Max Stirner
Strengths
- Descriptively realistic about motivation.
- Cleanly resolves demandingness worries.
- Compatible with enlightened cooperation via reciprocity.
Common objections
- Cannot recommend a common morality — advice to others undermines one's own interest.
- Licenses free-riding and betrayal when detection is unlikely.
- Conflates self-interest with what is good.
Mini-example
An egoist supports honesty in contracts because reputation compounds — not because deceit is wrong per se.