Explain the true/false conditions that can be met by the ethical egoistic, hedonistic utilitarian and virtue theorist.

Ethical egoism asserts that human beings are by nature self-interested creatures because we are only concerned with maximising our own personal advantage. This means that our motivation to commit altruistic acts is really the pursuit of self-interest. Our intrinsic quality to act upon our individual desires is a natural attribute that is found in human psychology. Negative or positive assumptions can be made about moral judgement using ethical egoism, for example the statement “a scientist should always share his/her findings with everyone”. This can be seen as true because by doing so he/she will receive recognition for his/her work. They could also become more successful such as winning a Nobel Prize. But this would be false if he/she has not thoroughly tested the findings and his/her reputation is damaged.

The hedonistic utilitarian measures the morality of a judgement depending on how much pleasure is derived from it. Gaining pleasure is a natural effect that people experience from carrying out an act. For a utilitarian an action is right if it leads to the greatest happiness of all those it affects and so must maximise happiness. Therefore the statement that “a scientist should always share his/her findings with everyone” may be judged as true by a utilitarian as the majority of society could benefit greatly from the scientific breakthrough. This is because it maximises happiness of the society as this breakthrough may make their lives easier and individuals may receive satisfaction from gaining knowledge. Furthermore it may trigger additional studies that develop the findings and produce positive effects to society. It would be judged false if the scientific breakthrough is found to be dangerous or harmful to society and does not produce pleasure. For example the breakthrough may have risks and cause detrimental effects to individuals such as