Psychological Egoism In The Kitty Genovese

Psychological egoism is a belief that all humans are selfish even though they appear they are not being selfish. PE is an observation of what in fact happens. It is stating that people even through out of kindness are out of selfishness because they feel pride in themselves for doing the act or because it will increase their statues of being a good person.

Egoist will respond to the kitty Genovese story as an example of being selfish. The story of the 38 witnesses could have saved her from ending up dead. They had three shots to save her, but waited till the end to do so. Many of the witnesses felt it wasn’t their responsibility to help and many were scared of doing so. They defused the situation as something that wont affect them because they were safe in their homes. The first time the attacker came to Miss Genovese she screamed. One person open the widow and said “ Let the girl go”. It this case he obvious know that she was stabbed, but still didn’t call the police. Many neighbors were aware that it was happen, but still did

In the story it said if a justice person had the possession of this ring then he will do unjust act with it because their is nothing stopping him for doing so. It the reason that people are good because if you do a unjust thing then you are going to be facing laws and punishment for the act, but if you didn’t have to face the consequence like Gyges you will eventually be unjust. In a Egoist perspective this is a perfect example that people ought to be selfish and are selfish if they didn’t have to fear punishment for their acts. People also can be selfish for doing good acts because of praised, honor, and rewards. This can also be why people want to help others because it benefits themselves by giving them a good statues among