Do you agree with Egoism?

Do you agree with Egoism?

I have decided to write about egoism and whether or not I agree with it.  My personal opinion is that I believe that Egoistic logic is flawed because the most crucial argument in favor of it is completely circular and proves nothing.

Egoism relies on the logic that any action can be explained because the person was acting out of self-interest alone.  For example, some people are generous because it feels good to them to be so, and that is why they are generous.  My problem with this logic is that it can be applied to absolutely any action.  It is a dismissive way of thinking that ignores many human emotions that motivate people to act for reasons besides satisfaction or to satisfy some appetite.  I will use a classic moral dilemma to give an example of an action motivated by something other than satisfaction.

You are standing at a control panel and see a train speeding down the tracks below you completely out of control.  There are 5 construction workers standing on the tracks who will certainly be killed if the train isn’t stopped.  You notice that there is another person standing on the only alternate route for the train to follow so by diverting the train away from the 5 workers you will be intentionally killing an innocent person.

My opinion is that you are morally obligated to save the five people and kill the one, provided that all other options have been exhausted.  However, I also believe that the person at the controls will feel no satisfaction for this act, rather he or she will feel immense guilt for doing the right thing and saving the five innocent people.  This is an example of a person acting unselfishly and intentionally bearing the burden of knowingly taking another person’s life for the greater good.  People are capable of acting unselfishly without expecting to feel good about it afterwards and that is why I personally disagree with Egoism.