Egoism

Egoism is a

The New Catholic Encyclopedia states of egoism that it "incorporates in itself certain basic truths: it is natural for man to love himself; he should moreover do so, since each one is ultimately responsible for himself; pleasure, the development of one's potentialities, and the acquisition of power are normally desirable."^[4] The moral censure of self-interest is a common subject of critique in egoist philosophy, with such judgments being examined as means of control and the result of power relations. Egoism may also reject that insight into one's internal motivation can arrive extrinsically, such as from psychology or sociology,^[1] though, for example, this is not present in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche.

Overview

The term egoism is derived from the French égoïsme, from the Latin ego (first person singular personal pronoun; "I") with the French -ïsme ("-ism").

Descriptive theories

The descriptive variants of egoism are concerned with self-regard as a factual description of human motivation and, in its furthest application, that all human motivation stems from the desires and interest of the ego.^[1][2] In these theories, action which is self-regarding may be simply termed egoistic.^[5]

The position that people tend to act in their own self-interest is called default egoism,

Normative egoism, as in the case of Stirner, need not reject that some modes of behavior are to be valued above others—such as Stirner's affirmation that non-restriction and autonomy are to be most highly valued.[11] Contrary theories, however, may just as easily favour egoistic domination of others.^[12]

Theoreticians

Stirner

Nietzsche

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I submit that egoism belongs to the essence of a noble soul, I mean the unalterable belief that to a being such as "we," other beings must naturally be in subjection, and have to sacrifice themselves. The noble soul accepts the fact of his egoism without question, and also without consciousness of harshness, constraint, or arbitrariness therein, but rather as something that may have its basis in the primary law of things:—if he sought a designation for it he would say: "It is justice itself."
— Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

The philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche has been linked to forms of both descriptive and normative egoism.

...there is no "being" behind doing, effecting, becoming; "the doer" is merely a fiction added to the deed—the deed is everything.(§13)
— Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals

Jonas Monte of Brigham Young University argues that Nietzsche doubted if any 'I' existed in the first place, which the former defined as "a conscious Ego who commands mental states".^[18]

Other theoreticians

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• Jeremy Bentham,^[19] who is attributed as an early proponent of psychological egoism
• Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevskii,^[20]
  a Russian literary critic and philosopher of nihilism and rational egoism
• Do what thou wilt
  "
• Arthur Desmond as Ragnar Redbeard (possibly, unproved)^[22]
• Thomas Hobbes,^[19] who is attributed as an early proponent of psychological egoism
• John Henry Mackay, a British-German egoist anarchist
• Bernard de Mandeville,^[23]
  whose materialism has been retroactively described as form of egoism
• Friedrich Nietzsche,^[24] whose concept of will to power has both descriptive and prescriptive interpretations^[15]
• Dmitry Ivanovich Pisarev,^[25]
  a Russian literary critic and philosopher of nihilism and rational egoism
• capitalist self-incentive and selfishness^[26]
• dialectical egoism"^[27]
• Benjamin Tucker, an American egoist anarchist
• James L. Walker, who independently formulated an egoist philosophy before himself discovering the work of Stirner^[28]
• John Fowles, British writer who laid out an individualist philosophy in his book The Aristos.

Relation to altruism

In 1851, French philosopher

While Friedrich Nietzsche does not view altruism as a suitable antonym for egoism,^[31] Comte instead states that only two human motivations exist, egoistic and altruistic, and that the two cannot be mediated; that is, one must always predominate the other. For Comte, the total subordination of the self to altruism is a necessary condition to both social and personal benefit.^[29] Nietzsche, rather than rejecting the practice of altruism, warns that despite there being neither much altruism nor equality in the world, there is almost universal endorsement of their value and, notoriously, even by those who are its worst enemies in practice.^[15] Egoist philosophy commonly views the subordination of the self to altruism as either a form of domination that limits freedom, an unethical or irrational principle, or an extension of some egoistic root cause.^[1]

In evolutionary theory,

Since normative egoism rejects the

Egoists ironically can be read as moral and political egalitarians glorifying the dignity of each and every person to pursue life as they see fit. Mistakes in securing the proper means and appropriate ends will be made by individuals, but if they are morally responsible for their actions they not only will bear the consequences but also the opportunity for adapting and learning.[1]

In contrast with this however, such an ethic may not morally obligate against the egoistic exercise of power over others. On these grounds, Friedrich Nietzsche criticizes egalitarian morality and political projects as unconducive to the development of human excellence.

Philosophical egoism has also found wide appeal among anarchist revolutionaries and thinkers, such as John Henry Mackay, Benjamin Tucker, Émile Armand, Han Ryner Gérard de Lacaze-Duthiers, Renzo Novatore, Miguel Giménez Igualada, and Lev Chernyi. Though he did not involve in any revolutionary movements himself, the entire school of individualist anarchism owes much of its intellectual heritage to Max Stirner.

Egoist philosophy may be misrepresented as a principally revolutionary field of thought. However, neither Hobbesian nor Nietzschean theories of egoism approve of political revolution. Anarchism and revolutionary socialism were also strongly rejected by Ayn Rand and her followers.

Fascism

The philosophies of both Nietzsche and Stirner were heavily appropriated by

At first sight, Nazi totalitarianism may seem the opposite of Stirner's radical individualism. But fascism was above all an attempt to dissolve the social ties created by history and replace them by artificial bonds among individuals who were expected to render explicit obedience to the state on grounds of absolute egoism. Fascist education combined the tenets of asocial egoism and unquestioning conformism, the latter being the means by which the individual secured his own niche in the system. Stirner's philosophy has nothing to say against conformism, it only objects to the Ego being subordinated to any higher principle: the egoist is free to adjust to the world if it is clear he will better himself by doing so. His 'rebellion' may take the form of utter servility if it will further his interest; what he must not do is to be bound by 'general' values or myths of humanity. The totalitarian ideal of a barrack-like society from which all real, historical ties have been eliminated is perfectly consistent with Stirner's principles: the egoist, by his very nature, must be prepared to fight under any flag that suits his convenience.[12]

— Leszek Kołakowski, Main Currents of Marxism, pp.137-138

See also

Look up egoism, egoist, or egoistic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Altruism – Principle or practice of concern for the welfare of others
• Enlightened self-interest – Ethical philosophy
• Homo economicus – Model of humans as rational, self-interested agents
• Individualism – Concept regarding the moral worth of the individual
• Individualist anarchism – Branch of anarchism that emphasizes the individual and their will
• Machiavellianism (psychology) – Psychological trait
• Selfishness – Concern for self above that of others
• Selfism – Favorability of selfish principles
• Suitheism
   – Glorification of a subject to divine levelPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets

References