Pleasure

Ethical egoism

The classical utilitarian (consequentialist) theorists are considered to be John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham. Mill and Bentham associated the happiness of an action with pleasure, and according to Bentham, humankind gets governed by pleasure and pain. Bentham believed that some things give us pleasure, whereas other things lead to pain. This basic fact explains why human beings determine some things to be good and others evil. Bentham followed the reasoning that morality aims at trying to bring about as much pleasure as possible and for as many people as possible in the society, while at the same time attempting to reduce the amount of pain in the world. When the idea that happiness equates with pleasure is applied, the principle is said to state that an action is morally right if it leads to the greatest amount of pleasure for the most significant number of individuals who are affected; however, it is morally wrong of it does not accomplish this purpose.

There are two types of egoism namely psychological egoism and ethical egoism. A psychological egoism would argue that humanity always inevitably acts in own self-interest. Ethical egoism claims that an individual should make ethical decisions based on own self-interest. According to ethical egoism, selfishness is viewed as a virtue, and those who act in an altruistic way get regarded to be foolhardy and unethical (Banks, 2012). Ethical egoism is an example of the Consequentialist theory. Egoists claim that the most appropriate way to act ethically is always to act out of self-interest. Ethical egoism is a Consequentialist theory because to determine our self-interest, it is essential to consider the possible outcomes and to select the one that best serves individual interests. Human beings are described as a society of egoists, based on the shared belief that all persons must live their lives self-interestedly, as they see fit, without necessarily considering others. Self-interest is central to market capitalism that exhorts us daily to nurture and take care of ourselves, to indulge and pamper ourselves. According to ethical egoism, they are no reasons why individuals and professionals should abide by moral standards or rules unless they suit them.

There are three kinds of ethical egoism namely personal ethical egoism, universal ethical egoism, and individual ethical egoism. Personal ethical egoism argues that a person only should act in their self-interest and all other people can do all that they want. Individual Ethical egoism claims that all people should act in my self-interest. Universal ethical egoism argues that all individuals should act in their self-interest.

Ethical egoism proposes that in the criminal justice system what should be done is whatever brings about the most pleasure for the person. Bentham aimed at creating a more responsive criminal justice to the needs of criminals as opposed to giving a simple brutality as a way of deterring the individual offender and also discouraging the masses from engaging in criminal behavior in the future (Roberson & Mire, 2009).

Ethical egoism is however criticized by some criminologists and scholars as they argue that the focus on the self-interest of the ethical egoism lacks a principled foundation and sometimes get compared to racism in its emphasis on the interests of an individual group. In the criminal justice system, ethical egoism would appear to supply justification to corrupt or inhumane actions by professionals in this discipline (Maguire & Okada, 2014).

References

Banks, C. (2012). Criminal justice ethics: Theory and practice. Sage Publications.

Maguire, M., & Okada, D. (Eds.). (2014). Critical issues in crime and justice: Thought, policy, and practice. SAGE Publications.

Roberson, C., & Mire, S. (2009). Ethics for Criminal Justice Professionals. CRC Press.

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