Blog Post 2 (The Skeptics to The Utilitarian, and Your Life)

Am I only motivated by self-interest? Has everything I’ve ever done been motived by the idea of my own benefit? Psychological Egoism is defined as “we are always interested chiefly in our own welfare, whether or not we admit it. That’s not to say we don’t care about anyone or anything else, but this caring is based on how things affect our own happiness.” (Chapter 12, Section 3b). Aristippus and Bentham believed that psychological egoism is natural and universal (Chapter 12, Section 3b). We seek pleasure and avoid pain (Chapter 12, Section 3b).

I do believe that I, for my entire life, have acted on self-interest and have sought after pleasure and tried to avoid pain. I as a human have tried to avoid pain at all costs, I think this applies to all humans. Most humans and animals tend to avoid pain, why? Because pain hurts and no one likes to be hurts. The reason I act on my own self-interest is because at the end of the day even our loved ones are primarily looking out for themselves. We tend to choose to do what we think will benefit us the most, we keep other people in mind too, but in my mind at least I am number one.

Like I’ve said before I work at a distribution warehouse, I am a warehouse associate. I am just a worker I have no authority or any say about what happens in the warehouse. Me and my coworkers all have a certain quota we have to meet, that being we have to grab, stack, and scan three packages from a conveyor belt every minute. My warehouse is only part time so we work for four to five hours every day. From the beginning to the end of my shift all the workers have to do this every single minute. Most do not meet the quota which is why our warehouse is mostly temporary workers that are let go if they don’t meet the quota. When I am grabbing packages and trying to be fast and do my best I cannot help my coworkers out if they need help with one of the heavier packages, this is because if I do I will then fall behind which at my warehouse is really bad. If we fall behind by a certain number of packages we can be written up and after the second write up we are let go. This is why I act on my own self-interest and everyone else comes second to me.

We cannot always look out for our friends or people we like because we are here in life trying to succeed like everyone else. We can’t feel bad or sad sometimes because in the end we are just looking out for ourselves. I try to help other people out sometimes at work but I can only do so much when I am under pressure to meet their quota. Sometimes we feel bad but if I lost my job trying to help someone else I would feel worst because that is what humans try to avoid pain. I am not only motivated by self-interest but it is one of my biggest motivations. Not everything I’ve ever done was for my own benefit but most of my decisions have been.

Word Count: 565

Blog Post 2 (The Skeptics to The Utilitarian, and Your Life)

Am I only motivated by self-interest? Has everything I’ve ever done been motived by the idea of my own benefit? Psychological Egoism is defined as “we are always interested chiefly in our own welfare, whether or not we admit it. That’s not to say we don’t care about anyone or anything else, but this caring is based on how things affect our own happiness.” (Chapter 12, Section 3b). Aristippus and Bentham believed that psychological egoism is natural and universal (Chapter 12, Section 3b). We seek pleasure and avoid pain (Chapter 12, Section 3b).

I do believe that I, for my entire life, have acted on self-interest and have sought after pleasure and tried to avoid pain. I as a human have tried to avoid pain at all costs, I think this applies to all humans. Most humans and animals tend to avoid pain, why? Because pain hurts and no one likes to be hurts. The reason I act on my own self-interest is because at the end of the day even our loved ones are primarily looking out for themselves. We tend to choose to do what we think will benefit us the most, we keep other people in mind too, but in my mind at least I am number one.

Like I’ve said before I work at a distribution warehouse, I am a warehouse associate. I am just a worker I have no authority or any say about what happens in the warehouse. Me and my coworkers all have a certain quota we have to meet, that being we have to grab, stack, and scan three packages from a conveyor belt every minute. My warehouse is only part time so we work for four to five hours every day. From the beginning to the end of my shift all the workers have to do this every single minute. Most do not meet the quota which is why our warehouse is mostly temporary workers that are let go if they don’t meet the quota. When I am grabbing packages and trying to be fast and do my best I cannot help my coworkers out if they need help with one of the heavier packages, this is because if I do I will then fall behind which at my warehouse is really bad. If we fall behind by a certain number of packages we can be written up and after the second write up we are let go. This is why I act on my own self-interest and everyone else comes second to me.

We cannot always look out for our friends or people we like because we are here in life trying to succeed like everyone else. We can’t feel bad or sad sometimes because in the end we are just looking out for ourselves. I try to help other people out sometimes at work but I can only do so much when I am under pressure to meet their quota. Sometimes we feel bad but if I lost my job trying to help someone else I would feel worst because that is what humans try to avoid pain.

Word Count: 532