Legal Environment Essay

Sexual harassment is always a legal topic in the work environment because the ramifications are so severe, but at the same time very abstract to describe what can constitute sexual harassment. This paper will take into consideration different elements of the law including Employment Law and cases tried before the U. S. Supreme Court. It will also offer suggestions for corrective action pertaining to the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace. In corporate America, sexual harassment is a huge concern amongst many organizations. The matter of sexual harassment is an issue that needs to be immediately attended to in order for companies to avoid large costs associated with lawsuits stemming from allegations of being sexually harassed in the workplace. Sexual harassment is usually an immediate damage. According to Crucet et al. (2010), â€Å"sexual harassment can cause damage to a company’s representation, status, customers, as well as their proceeds†. Sexual harassment can be identified as any unwelcome sexual jesters or advances, request for sex, and/or any physical or verbal conduct that may be considered in a sexual nature. The legalities circling sexual harassment can be broken down into two particular categories. According to Crucet et al. (2010), â€Å"the first category is quid pro quo and the second one consists of a hostile environment†. The first category of quid pro quo (this for that) sexual harassment usually involves an employee and a supervisor because in most situations only supervisors have the power of hiring and firing an employee. It also â€Å"involves some express or implied linkage between an employee’s submission to sexually oriented behavior and tangible job consequences† (Mallor et al. 2010, p. 1328). An example of quid pro quo could be related to a supervisor telling his female employee that â€Å"if you do this sexual favor for me, then you will be promoted†. According to Tyner & Clinton (2010), â€Å"other examples include managers requesting sexual favors, and the receipt or non-receipt of those favors as a condition for making hiring, termination, promotion, and other placement decisions. † Quid pro quo is easier to identify than hostile environment harassment. The second category of sexual harassment is called hostile environment harassment. According to Mallor et al. 2010), â€Å"hostile environment harassment, occurs when an employee is subjected to unwelcome, sex-related behavior that is sufficiently severe or pervasive to change the conditions of the victim’s employment and create an abusive working environment† (p. 1328). The key element of any type of harassment is unwelcomed sexual advances but in hostile environment harassment it is definitely a bit tricky and at times hard to define (Tyner & Clinton, 2010). Both categories of sexual harassment violate Title VII of Employment Law that is in place to protect equal opportunity in the workplace. In order to avoid or limit their liability for sexual harassment allegations, an employer must act immediately when issues of sexual harassment are brought to their attention in addition to providing adequate training on sexual harassment along with having an effective policy in place that identifies the definition of sexual harassment. A current ethical situation that I have encountered in the workplace involves hostile environment harassment. I have an employee by the name of Bob Doe that has been accused of sexual harassment in the workplace. Bob has been working as an Admissions Counselor under my supervision since January of 2011. Bob is married with three young children between the ages of ten to sixteen. Bob is a great worker but people still feel uncomfortable around him and comes off much different that the other male employee or co worker. He carries around an aura or vibe that makes the female employees feel uncomfortable. For instance, when Bob has a conversation with other female employees he tends to get too close and invade personal space. He is often caught saying vulgar and raunchy remarks that are HR inappropriate and has a habit of speaking under his breath a lot. Many of the female employees have claimed that he stares at them for periods of time without saying anything. He is medium to tall height, with a muscular build and tends to wear tight articles of clothing to reveal his muscles. Bob is middle aged and is about 5-10 years older than the average of other Admissions Counselors. In August of 2011, one day another male employee approached me and said that Bob had made some remarks to him regarding another female employee. Bob told this male employee â€Å"that he would love to catch her drunk† about that female employee. As a supervisor, this remark made me feel very angry that one of my employees would make comments like that about another employee and I immediately reported this action to my Director, Steve. Steve said that he really couldn’t do anything about that comment because I could not confirm whether or not he said it based off of the word of another employee and that the comment was not heard by the female employee. The director then told me to stay away from the gossip in the workplace and not to get involved in drama, He reminded me that I am suppose to be above that sort of office slander and that I was put in this position to make others people at their job and not be a whistle blower. I acknowledged what he told me and agreed that I would do a better job moving forward, but I still asked him to please report this incident to Human Resources. Steve said that he would handle the situation and would report the incident to Human Resources. Steve likes to handle all HR issues as he calls, â€Å"in house†. Steve wants the managers to run an incident by him before going to HR because he feels that he can handle the issues and that only if the cause was serious enough and if he was not present then we could go to Human Resources, otherwise we were to seek his approval or direction first. The second incident that involved Bob was in November 2011, when he approached another female employee on the team and grabbed her from behind and hugged her. Although he was not being overly aggressive and had a smile on his face, the female employee named Helen was caught off guard and felt violated and asked Bob not to touch her again because it made her feel uncomfortable. Bob laughed it off and said â€Å"Gezz girl relax! You know it’s not like that† and pointed at his wedding ring and walk away. Helen approached me and told me what happened. I immediately pulled Bob into a conference room and told him very sternly that it was inappropriate to hug and/or touch another employee in the workplace especially if it is unwelcomed because it could be viewed as sexual harassment. He said he understood and apologized for his behavior. At this time, I felt that this particular incident did not need to be reported to Human Resources since I felt I had a pretty good handle of the situation. I, however did document the incident in his employee activity log and mentioned it to my director who also said I handled the situation appropriately The third incident that happened regarding Bob was in January 2012. Bob was flirting with a female employee named Lisa who was not an employee on my team but still in the same division. Bob then began to grab Lisa’s hand and hold it with his hand. As Lisa pulled away, she asked Bob â€Å"why are you trying to hold my hand? † Bob’s response was â€Å" you’re so hot you’re making my hands clammy. † This was another sexual harassment issue that could have blown up. Once Lisa’s manager brought this situation to my attention, I once again called Bob into the conference room and explained to him that this was his second warning not to touch another employee, especially a female employee because it is inappropriate and unwarranted and if it were to happen again, then I would have no choice but to personally report him to Human Resources. Once again, I turned to my Director, Steve to seek his advice. Steve again told me that as long as you feel that you handled the situation appropriately and documented it then Bob should be fine. At this point I started getting the feeling that Steve didn’t care about the safety of my female employees and that he just wanted to avoid HR to avoid a situation. I felt as if Steve was allowing this to happen to prevent himself from looking bad. I then decide that I had to take the situation into my own hands and be more cognizant of Bob’s behavior with other employees. There have been a number of other times that Bob continued to make inappropriate comments to other female employees. He would compliment girls on their dress and say how nice their legs looked or that a certain color really brings out their figure. However, there were no mo complaints from Bob in regards to touching another employee inappropriately. He eventually decided to move onto another role with a different company and that was that. Sexual harassment is subjective because everyone identifies and perceives sexual harassment differently. Bob did come from the food and beverage industry where he was a bartender and a lot of his employees were cocktail waitresses in a night club in downtown. He did mention that in his previous job that he was very friendly with his staff because the culture would be more tolerable, especially with alcohol being involved. So, he may not have viewed his actions as being sexual harassment to his female employees, but obviously the employees felt otherwise. Author Tyner and Clinton write that â€Å"According to the law, the victim must be a â€Å"reasonable person† (Tyner & Clinton, 2010). The â€Å"reasonable person† standard initiated in the landmark case of Rabidue v. Osceola Refining back in 1986. According to Tyner & Clinton (2010), â€Å"in this case the majority ruled that vulgar language and the sexually oriented posters did not result in a working environment that could be considered intimidating, hostile, or offensive under the guidelines. † Essentially Judge Keith felt that â€Å"sexual harassment should not be judged by a reasonable person but rather by a reasonable victim† (Tyner & Clinton, 2010). It is the victim that feels uncomfortable and is claiming the allegations of sexual harassment. They are the one that feel that the acts of another are unwelcomed and violating their legal rights. Unfortunately, as a manager of fourteen Admissions Counselors, at times I don’t have the presence to be everywhere at all times. I have frequently not been present at urgent moments because I was helping or assisting another employee. I always made it a conscience effort to praise in public and coach or criticize in private. This was the course of action I took with Bob whenever I witnessed an inappropriate behavior from him. I took him into the conference room and let me know that what he just did is not acceptable. I did not want him to feel that he was being discriminated against because he was an older male. I know that it was my ethical duty to make sure that all of my employees have the right to feel safe in the workplace. This topic really sticks out to me because as a manager of a big company we are constantly having sexual harassment trainings and seminars on how to identify and prevent instances from occurring. A manager at the training shared with the rest of the managers a horrific case of sexual harassment from one of her employees. The employees name was Tim and he was a very skilled and tenure Admissions Counselor and often looked at as a great example of a successful hard working Admissions Counselor. When a female new hire Kristy was added onto the same team as Tim the manager advised that the new hire learn from Tim and create best practices and habits that Tim has. Kristy was near Tim a lot because she was given orders to learn from Tim. Tim would use this opportunity to flirt with Kristy constantly and asking her very intruding questions about her personal life such as, if she is dating anyone or if she is interested in a relationship or just â€Å"hooking up. † Kristy became very ucomfortable when Tim started to text message her at night saying that he is bored now that he is divorced and that he wants to meet her early in the morning to go over performance strategies. When Kristy finally confided in another employee the manager was brought to attention. The manager immediately told Kristy to go to HR right away and the manager went to her supervisor and they both took immediate actions. Because of Tim’s behavior Kristy was about to quit her job and she would attempt to be sick in order to stay away from Tim’s desk. Tim’s behavior created a hostile environment because Kristy was in fear of encountering Tim. This incident not only saddens me for Kristy, but also made me sad because of what Bob had done in the past to my fellow employees and I had not taken immediate actions like I should have. Legal Viewpoints: The U. S.  Supreme Court According to Crucet et al. (2010), â€Å"in 1980 the Supreme Court said that sexual harassment was a breach of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. † Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 â€Å"prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin in hiring, firing, job assignments, pay, access to training, and apprenticeship programs, and most other employment decisions† (Mallor et al. , 2010, p. 1323). An important case that first appeared the â€Å"reasonable person† argument was in the Rabidue v. Osceola Refining in 1986 mentioned earlier in this paper. This case is often cited as the predecessor to the landmark Supreme Court case of Ellison v. Brady in 1991. In Ellison v. Brady (1991) the Supreme Court rules that â€Å"it is unreasonable to use a â€Å"reasonable person† standard since the rules were established by men† (Tyner & Clinton, 2010). This is where the â€Å"reasonable victim† came into existence. The court went on to say that â€Å"we note that the reasonable woman victim standard we adopt today classified conduct as unlawful sexual harassment even when harassers do not realize that their conduct creates a hostile working environment† (Tyner & Clinton, 2010). This Supreme Court ruling is of great importance. Many of times, harassers don’t even realize what they are doing is wrong because their perception of reality is off. Two important Supreme Court cases in 1998 created the framework for deciding whether or not employers were held liable for sexual harassment committed by its employees. The first was Burlington Industries v. Ellerth (1998) and the second was Farragher v. Boca Raton (1998). According to Cabassa (2011), â€Å"employers in jurisdictions where courts have allowed indemnity claims against employees for actions giving rise to harassment cases† are on the rise. There are many cases linking to sexual harassment in the workplace that they have launched a litigation committee that covers employment law to covering all legal issues related to the employment relationship (Cabassa, 2010). The question still stands on whether or not a company is liable for sexual harassment committed by one of its employees. The answer to that question lies on â€Å"whether the harasser was a coemployee or a supervisor of the victim, whether the victim suffered tangible job detriment and whether the company had sexual harassment policies, training, and grievance procedures† (Mallor et al. , 2010, p. 1328). Therefore, in order for a company to release themselves from association and allegations of sexual harassment a number of things need to be considered. Suggestions for Corrective Action According to Das (2007), â€Å"sexualization itself, as a precursor to signaling, could arguably stem both from a targets developmental trajectory and from later-life experiences that get layered onto this basic personality substrate. † Therefore, although Bob had these precursor straits of sexualization prior to him going through divorce, the later-life experiences of divorce layered into his life may have caused him to be more relentless. Regardless of his personal life experiences, Bob needs to be in line with the Employee Handbook and follow its policies. It is imperative each company have a Human Resource or Employees Relations Representative that can handle any allegations of sexual harassment. It is first and foremost important for a company no matter of size small or large, to have an Employee Handbook in place to identify what is considered acceptable and what can be recognized as sexual harassment. Then adequate training needs to be in place to help identify what may be considered as sexual and/or ostile environment harassment. After the training, each employee should be required to sign off on an acknowledgment form acknowledging that they know and understand the sexual harassment policy. Once those guidelines are set then it is important for managers and supervisors to take the allegations of sexual harassment very seriously and prevent any further occurrences to take place. If allegations of sexual harassment are made, it is important for Human Resources to open an investigation immediately to determine the facts of the case and to get each sides of the story.  Once the pieces of the puzzle are in place, then the next step is to take appropriate disciplinary action up to and including termination of the harasser. This measure will hopefully prevent sexual and hostile environment harassment. Conclusion In conclusion, the Employment Law has been established by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 allowing every person the right to pursue a career and economic gain with the absence of sexual harassment in the workplace. The U. S.  Supreme Court has been a huge help in identifying the law surrounding and interpreting the U. S. Constitution as it pertains to sexual harassment. According to Tyner & Clinton (2010), â€Å"the Society for Human Resource Managers reported in 2002 that 97 percent of employers have written sexual harassment policies and that 62 percent of those employers provide training on sexual harassment. † Therefore, as a society we are on the right track to preventing harassment of any type in the workplace especially unwelcomed and unwarranted sexual advances.

Five-Step Decision Making Process Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Five-Step Decision Making Process - Essay Example In case of recruitment and selection, ethical decision making plays a vital role to find the best candidate for the designation under consideration. However, there are a number of ways in which the decisions are deteriorated by other staff, family members, friends, relatives and existing employees. Human resource managers need to carefully formulate their criteria to the selection process. Every candidate should be assessed according to the qualification, skills, interview results and experience rather than on the basis of his reference or source. This paper evaluates the given scenario applying The 5 steps Process for Making Ethical Decisions. The five step process which guide towards making an ethical decision regarding issues in the business starts from the identification of the problem. In the given scenario, there is a clear indication of possible unethical judgment due to personal interest and influence of others. The co-worker’s statement may affect the decision of the hiring process. The problem of unethical and unjust decisions may harm the reputation of the company and such a decision may also not be in the best interest of the business. It is firstly unethical to reject candidates who best suit the position under consideration. ... The second step is to identify the alternative choice that a person can take. Applying it on the given scenario there are three main alternatives I can take: 1. Hire the best candidate 2. Leap back and give the power of selection to other senior 3. Hire that candidate which is friend of my co-worker The identification of the alternatives alone is not sufficient to help in making an ethical decision. It is now required to evaluate the alternatives in order to select the best possible candidate for the position. If I go for the first choice and do hire the best candidate then my colleague would take it wrongly and it may affect our relationship. But the best candidate can be a valuable asset to our organization. As a responsible employee of my organization it is the best choice for me. If I select the second option and leap back and delegate or request the selection to be done by other individual say my senior then however my colleague would still be dissatisfied with me but still it w ould not harm the relationship much in the long run. Finally, if I do hire that candidate which is a friend of my colleague then both the organization needs and my colleague would be satisfied. I personally believe that I should go for the best candidate for the designation under consideration in terms of qualifications, experience and skills. This will be a bit difficult to satisfy the co-worker; however, it will help the organization run successfully in the long run. Job of hiring is a very bonafide job and it requires higher level of professional skepticism. Hiring is the process which must display greater level of ethical decision making. It will be unethical to avoid any

The roles and influences of the various actors and groups involved in Essay

The roles and influences of the various actors and groups involved in policy-making - Essay Example Thus, tourism, for any State, creates job opportunities, bringing in money, while forming a cost-effective measure to revive ‘run-down communities’ (ibid). A sustainable and well-managed tourism sector is environmentally advantageous for the country, subsequently assisting in elevating the quality of lives for the local inhabitants. Thus it is imperative that public policies on an economic sector as important as tourism be carefully framed, keeping in mind various aspects like economic development of the chosen location, sustainability of the entire project, amongst many others. Policies, in both public and private sectors, provide a framework for making decisions, and help to connect the process of strategy planning with actual implementation (Wheelen and Hunger, 1990). Tourism policy is can be viewed as "a set of regulations, rules, guidelines, directives, and development objectives and strategies† (Goeldner, Ritchie & McIntosh 2000, 445). In tourism policymaking , the focus would involve around creating guidelines for the development of sustainable tourism along with a plan for future measures and developmental route (Jenkins 2000). The Tourism industry in any country includes other business sectors like hospitality services, museums, heritage sites, various events, and transportation, thus making it imperative that besides the governmental authorities, various actors and groups form other business sectors remain involved or taken under consideration while framing policies for tourism. This essay will examine the various actors and groups that remain involved in tourism policymaking, the levels of influence of the various groups involved in tourism policy-making and how this has changed over time, and evaluate the linkages and/or partnerships that exist between groups involved in tourism policy-making especially in the context of UK tourism policymaking. Discussion A brief analysis of tourism industry in UK: UK tourism primarily is domestic based, and figures (fig 1) show that UK residents make more than â€Å"1bn overnight trips and day visits† annually, which comes to a count of nearly of 17 trips per person residing in UK, subsequently leading to almost ?67bn being circulated within UK economy each year (Tourism-Alliance, Tourism: Britain’s best opportunity for sustainable economic growth and new employment, 2010, 1). Fig 1: Domestic Tourism Expenditure by Destination. Here we find that redistribution of expenditure within UK tourism occurs mainly from urban centres like large cities and towns, and moves towards small villages and communities that live near the sea. (Source: Tourism-Alliance, Tourism: Britain’s best opportunity for sustainable economic growth and new employment, 2010, 1). In the arena of international tourism, UK is a popular destination, with large number of foreign visitors coming in each year. These overseas tourists act as a booster for the UK economy (as shown in fig 2), a s they bring in annual revenue worth almost ?19bn (which is worth more than the revenues earned from North Sea oil). Of the revenue generated the foreign tourists, nearly â€Å"?3.5bn goes straight to the Exchequer through Air Passenger Duty and VAT to help fund health, education and other public services†

What duties, if any, do we have to non-human animals Essay

What duties, if any, do we have to non-human animals - Essay Example ’1 In examining theories by Singer, McMahan, Warnock, Spira and Benson regarding the eating of non-human animals, consideration will also be given to the impact this may have on moral arguments regarding ‘duty’ in vivisection, and industries such as cosmetics, detergents and pharmaceuticals. Peter Singer believes chimpanzees and apes, should be granted ‘the right to life, to liberty and to protection from torture,’2 because they have autonomy like humans. Singer’s term ‘speciesists’ is used for people who ‘regard human beings as intrinsically more valuable than members of other species.’3 Singer purports to believe in equality between species, but Benson argues this is false ‘because of the relationships with other individuals which are inseparable from belonging to the same species.’4 Singer contradictiously suggests that chimps and apes have a greater level of consiousness, compared to other non-human an imals. In an article and the book Ethics into Action, Singer discusses Henry Spira who campaigned to reduce animal suffering related to the Draize and LD50 tests. Spira’s advertising campaign was criticized for using a Beagle to gain an emotive response; it was suggested if a rodent appeared in the advert people would not have been so outraged. Spira pointed to the importance of ‘not how popular is an animal, but can it tell the difference between pain and pleasure?’5 Singer discusses Kant’s work and states that we ‘find moral worth only when duty is done for duty’s sake.’6 What is meant by this relates to the advertising, in that if people do their duty out of sympathy or shame, they wouldn’t be doing their duty for the sake of believing and feeling it to be true. Gary L. Francione criticises Peter Singer’s work, suggesting that whilst it contains an element of reform for animal-welfare, it ‘makes people feel better about animal uses, but does not actually achieve its proper aim of protecting animals.’7 Francione argues for full abolition of animal use, claiming that because animals are sentient beings this should enable them to have full moral and legal rights. Professor of Philosophy, Jeff McMahan, discusses animals raised in good conditions, then killed humanely, for human consumption and terms this ‘benign carnivorism.’8 McMahan states the main premise of benign carnivorism’s moral philosophical argument, is that it’s preferable animals live in a contented manner, with no suffering (up until their humane death), than to not have existed at all. Mary Warnock claims animals ‘should be used for the sake of human society,’9 she lists activities such as horse riding; sledging; the food and clothing they provide. This argument is favourable to those wishing to consume meat, though McMahan points out the illogical flaw that: ‘there are no indiv iduals who never exist.’10 A comparative sense of ‘well-being’ is made between non-human animals and humans. Whilst non-human animals can appear to show emotion; other aspects of human life such as success, artistic endeavours, wisdom, meaningful connections to others, the ability to think rationally and appreciation of beauty aren’t always as easy to perceive in non-human animals. McMahan suggests that non-human animals lack a self-awareness for the future, claiming that they ‘do not†¦have desires or intentions or ambitions†¦that would be frustrated by death,’11 thus making it easier to justify killing them. McMahan’s argument makes interesting comparison to humans but his key premise throughout is that animals do not have the same rights as humans they have lesser rights; humans constantly place a higher value on human life. If non-human animals were seen to have a

Popular music composer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Popular music composer - Essay Example Composers like Chopin, Schubert, and Saint-Saens aspire to his greatness. While writing his music, he did it in full orchestral scores. His drafts were always final drafts while most of his works attained legendary status. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart got respect all over the world because of his prowess as an established, gifted and experienced composer. Due to his perfection in the classical mode of music, Beethoven, a renowned classical music composer, decided never to imitate him but rather to create his new mode of classical music. Beethoven did all this for the respect he had for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts work features offer one of the finest balance in history between orchestra and solo instruments. He is also regarded as one of the finest piano musicians ever to grace the earth and his prowess at the violin are equally adept, making him be one of The finest musicians ever to live. People were more generous in their praise for Wolfgang not only because he was younger and more gifted musically but also he was more appealing, free in his ways, and spontaneous (Melograni, & Cochrane. 2007). Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni is regarded as his greatest single work because of its pristine

Project 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Project 3 - Essay Example In case the tenant damages any property within the apartment, the law provides that it should be tabulated and written down. In case the landlord has any intentions to withhold, the security amount, the same should be communicated to in advance. On the other hand, the tenant has certain rights within the frame work of law. Sec 8-211 provides that the tenant could make repairs and deduct the commensurate amount from the rent. On the other hand, the landlord has a duty to mitigate the effects of the damages through initiatives such as re renting the premises. The law provides that in cases where the lease in question is one of 1 year, a three months’ notice should be given. There is however, an exception in case of farm tenancies that run for 6 months. In case the tenants- landlord agreement is a month to month, there should be one month notice. It is now proper to turn to instances where there is breach or violation of lease agreement, Sec 402.1(a)(1) provides that eviction notice should be given 30 days. However, in cases where the tenant poses a great danger it should be given 14 days. The landlord has the obligation of abiding by the laws when terminating the lease agreement. In this respect, the landlord is barred by the law to take possession of the leased property unless within the confines of the law. On the same note the landlord can only take possession of the tenant’s property only in case the tenant does not give legal notice on exit. Before the tenants enter any premise, the landlord has the duty to disclose all the relevant information. Within such information should be the right of the tenants, the landlord’s right to inspect the premises. Within such information should also be the person whom the landlord may direct to act on their behalf. Based on the above provisions, it is now in order to discuss the matters that relate to the case above. It is evident

Psychological and Ethical Egoism Essay Example for Free

Psychological and Ethical Egoism Essay Egoism is a general term for the acknowledgement of human self-interest as a basis of action. There are several proponents of this theory. Basically it is a philosophical notion that was popularized by Hobbes. Whatever action that an individual would take is pursuant of his/her own self. This theory has famously been separated into two types. The first one is ethical egoism and the second is called psychological egoism. Ethical egoism talks about morality as the basis of action in order to uplift the person himself, while psychological egoism states that all of our actions are basically rooted on self-interest. Accordingly, psychological egoism is devised out of observation of common human behavior. A clear demarcation between the two lies on its structure, Ethical egoism is more prescriptive. On the other hand, Psychological egoism is descriptive or observational (Rachels, 2003). The Fallacy in Psychological Egoism Although Psychological egoism seems to be perfectly valid, it was widely refuted with respect to the fallacies that it had committed. One of the fallacies that can be found in the principles of psychological egoism, upon critical examination, would be the fallacy of â€Å"hasty generalization or converse accident†. According to some critics, the fallacy was rooted on confirming that indeed all human acts are self-interested due to the different instances that prove otherwise. This includes the fact that most people do actions that would damage or harm themselves such as smoking, self-mutilation and sometimes suicide. Also there are several altruistic behaviors that do not really come from self-interest. There are other things or notions such as conscience which also have an effect on ones action. If those who supports psychological egoism would argue that all actions whether it be an act of conscience or an act that hurts oneself is also form of psychological egoism in itself, then there are no actions whatsoever that is not a form of psychological egoism (Rachels, 2003). Thus, it will result to a fallacy of tautology. It cannot be verified or established if an action is indeed a form of psychological egoism because there are no other actions aside from a psychologically egoistic act. Two Sides of Ethical Egoism The weak version of ethical egoism takes on the side of the probability of altruistic behavior. However, they have specified that although they acknowledge that the person does benevolent actions, nevertheless, they maintain that the action is still in accordance to or made with respect to the individuals own interest. One would like to do good because doing good makes him/her feels good. The strong version denies the presence of altruistic behavior. It asserts that in any circumstances, the individual would act in accordance to his/her self-interest despite the fact that it is in the form of benevolence. (Lander University, 2006) Major Similarities and Their Differnces Thus, as presented above, ethical egoism differs from psychological egoism in the sense that ethical egoist incorporates morality as a basis for human actions. It expresses the human self-interest in the sense of the goodness or the rightness of the act. Psychological egoism, do not try to tell us what we should do, but instead states that whatever actions that we have is basically an expression of our self-interest, the individual does not need to be moral or does not have to subscribe to morality (Rachels, 2003). Motivations In ethical egoism, the motivation lies on the persons desires to do or aspire for something good or right. This is applicable when one is acting in able to help other people because it is in his nature to do so, as explained by David Hume. On the other hand, in psychological egoism, the motivation rest on the persons or individuals preference for self-interest. Psychologically egoistic behavior can best be interpreted when the individual is doing something in exchange of something that would benefit or would be in reference to his/her personal interest. Largely, those actions that are psychologically egoistic are selfish acts while those that fall under the ethical egoist are actions from self-interest. (Mosley, 2006) Selfishness versus Self-interest Selfishness is manifested through personal advantages, mostly sacrificing others in favor of ones own self. Self-interest is promoting ones interest either for the benefit of himself or of other people as well. Self-interest differs from selfishness in the sense that self-interest does not necessarily points toward selfishness because certain actions that would benefit one or would comprise self-interest may actually be altruistic actions. There are instances wherein you have to be helpful to other people in order for you to proceed towards your egoistic goals. Also there are some actions whether it is for oneself or for the sake of others that are not relevant basis in suggesting that it is selfish act or a self-interested act. For instance there were actions such as eating or drinking that can be classified as either a form of selfishness or a form of self-interest. As presented, the major key in understanding the points and relevance of each position lies on the individuals understanding of the term selfishness and acting for or out of self-interest. (Mosley, 2003) Reference http://philosophy.lander.edu/ethics/egoism.html