Altruism: Lights, camera, action!

The libertine character Douglas Reynholm in the UK television show theIT Crowd truthfully remarks, ‘I am sad to say that the only secure routeto a Knighthood, in this sorry age, is via charity work’ (The IT Crowd,‘Calendar Geeks’ Episode 6, Series 3). If self-interest is the motive tobecome involved in charity work, does that make Douglas Reynholm andother people like him, good or bad? Intuitively the answer to thisquestion is in the negative. However, under the ethical egoism theory apositive answer is justifiable. The starting point of this paper is to firstdefine ethical egoism theory. From here this article will connect thismoral theory to Jane Bussmann’s book entitled The Worst Date Ever.Although Jane’s motive and involvement with the humanitarian issue ofchild soldiers was borne out of self-interest (that was to date andhopefully one day marry and live happily ever after with JohnPrendergast, the spunk of Peace and International Conflict) this papermaps her experiences in Uganda against this moral theory, as well asutilitarianism.