1. What is the difference between self-interest and selfishness? PDF

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On the other hand, selfishness refers to lack of concern with the values of others, it refers to someone who does not care of others, does not care about being famous. Selfish individuals appear to think only about themselves. They're not interested in anything else, and they have no respect for oth...

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1. What is the difference between self-interest and selfishness? Selfishness is different from self-interest. The pursue of self-interest is choosing an option that would result in the decision made in receiving the benefit. For your happiness and well-being, self-interest is necessary. For your financial and job success, self-interest is also essential. It helps you to provide both you and your family with food, clothe and shelter. If you're not thinking about yourself, who will be? It does not exclude worrying for someone to have a balanced self-interest. In fact, a clear self-interest is actually a central component of the most concerned about the interests of others. How would you think about someone if you do not care about yourself? That is the main concept of self-interest. On the other hand, selfishness refers to lack of concern with the values of others, it refers to someone who does not care of others, does not care about being famous. Selfish individuals appear to think only about themselves. They're not interested in anything else, and they have no respect for other people. Selfish people can behave in a way that is harmful to others. For instance, selfish people don't care what they have to do to get money. They have no ethics, morals, or standards. For them, their prime concern is what's in it for them. According to Christine Jeffrey, self-interest answers the call of your soul while selfishness caters to your demands. An example of the difference of the two; you brush your teeth. It is certainly in your self-interest to do so (and your friends and family thank you, too). But is toothbrushing a selfish act? Not as it is ordinarily understood, no. It seems that feeling good or otherwise benefitting from a behavior does not necessarily make that behavior selfish, but may make a behavior one that is in your self-interest.

2. What is the problem with cultural relativism as the basis for ethics? Base from the module, James Rachels present several points about the problem between ethics and cultural relativism. First, the argument of cultural relativism is within the fact that there are diverse cultures. With this, we cannot assume that one moral code of a cultural is the right one. Also, misunderstandings and problems commonly arise among various cultures. Second, we have no right to judge each other’s culture. But, there are some gruesome cultures that will test us if we should still stick to not judging these cultures. Third, we have no right to judge our own culture. If our culture was the basis for what is acceptable or not, we would be unable to say that something within our cultural practice was problematic, precisely because we take our culture to be the standard for making such judgments. Unfortunately, it is possible that we may not be satisfied with the thought of not being able to call our own culture into question. Lastly, perhaps the most evident contemporary difficulty with cultural relativismis that we can maintain it only by following the presumption of culture as a single, clearly-defined substance or as something fixed and already determined.

Thus, cultural relativism tends to deprive us of our use of critical thought in the study of ethics. Cultural Relativism, as it has been called, challenges our ordinary belief in the objectivity and universality of moral truth. It says, in effect, that there is no such thing as universal truth in ethics; there are only the various cultural codes, and nothing more....