Egoism can be a descriptive or a normative position.
Psychological egoism, the most famous descriptive position, claims that each person has but one ultimate aim: her own welfare.
Normative forms of egoism make claims about what one ought to do, rather than describe what one does do.
Ethical egoism claims I morally ought to perform some action if and only if, and because, performing that action maximizes my self-interest.
Rational egoism claims that I ought to perform some action if and only if, and because, performing that action maximizes my self-interest. (Here the “ought” is not restricted to the moral “ought”.)
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