In the humanitarian sciences, the notions of \u201cegoism\u201d and \u201caltruism\u201d are usually treated as the opposites. An altruistic self-sacrifice for the common good is always treated as heroic action and is highly appreciated. The most classical examples are the lives of M. Gandhi, A. Schweitzer, Theresa and some others. Therefore altruism has an untainted reputation while egoism is sometimes considered to be one of the \u201cworst\u201d. As A. Waterman puts it, \u201cthe pursuit of self-interest is thought to yield a sense of alienation through treating others as objects to be manipulated for personal ends\u201d.
\nImportantly, such criticism is heard from both Marxist philosophers. Even the individual self-realisation can be interpreted as her egoism, \u201cnarcissistic and ego-diving\u201d . The author hasn\u2019t come across a single work in the Russian (Post-soviet) academic psychology where the notion of egoism was considered positively or at least neutrally. Vice versa, this concept a priori carries the negative moral implications. The modern science has numerous facts at its disposal, which prove that the inborn, biological, not the social origin of people\u2019s (and animal\u2019s) egoism is based on the individual desire to survive and assert oneself.
\nIn the evolution context, all the living creatures possess the inborn desire for adaptation to the environment in order to improve their living conditions. From the biological point of view, egoistic behaviour means survival. That\u2019s why each selfish decision is individually preferred to each altruistic decision.<\/p>\n
Individualism versus Altruism<\/strong><\/p>\n Contemporary Western psychology has a dual attitude towards egoism. In E. Fromm\u2019s opinion, the modern culture is pierced by the taboo on egoism. At the same time such a view comes in conflict with the daily life experience in which person\u2019s tendency to be egoistic is considered to be his (her) most reasonable desire. To be happy means to be egoistic<\/strong><\/p>\n Though positive psychologists, who study happiness, prefer not to mention egoism due to its negative implications, the egoism researchers having no financial risks, openly interpret the term as the means of happiness achievement. One of the latest reviews on happiness confirms, that the definition of this term taken as a synonym for wellbeing concerns what benefits a person, is in her interest, is good for her, or makes her life go well for her. It can be clearly seen that all the above mentioned descriptions of happiness and well-being can be equally attributed to the notion of egoism. All acts are selfish<\/strong><\/p>\n Such an outcome again poses the question concerning the inner integrity and \u201cmoral authenticity\u201d of an altruist. At the same time, taking the altruistic ideas to the extreme may lead to some strange conclusions. We can consider a person to be a \u201ctrue\u201d altruist only if she helps other people, being at the same time totally indifferent to her own needs, not willing to become happier. But the latter reminds us more of a masochistic personality. In general, any person\u2019s attempt to improve her life may be rated as egoistic. The individualists are more tolerant than altruists<\/strong><\/p>\n Hedonistic egoism taken without its negative, sufficiently exaggerated implications and aimed at a person\u2019s inner state improvement, lies at the heart of most altruistic actions since \u201cas we all recognise, feeling good (or bad) about oneself is an extremely important feature of our internal life\u201d (Lewis, 2002). Consequently, the greater part of the so-called \u201caltruistic\u201d deeds represents a mixture of the both components \u2013 altruistic and egoistic. Albert Schweitzer\u2019s story<\/strong><\/p>\n In the frame of the results obtained, let\u2019s analyse the key act and the motivation of a legendary Albert Schweitzer. Being the successful musician, the famous philosopher and theologist, A. Schweitzer suddenly changed his career. At the age of thirty he began studying medicine at the university and then left Europe for Africa (Gabon) where he had been working off and on until his death. His biography from the age of 35 is represented as the example of purely unselfish service for people in need. by Leonid Levit (The Centre for Psychological Health, Minsk, Belarus)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the humanitarian sciences, the notions of \u201cegoism\u201d and \u201caltruism\u201d are usually treated as the opposites. An altruistic self-sacrifice for the common good is always treated as heroic action and is highly appreciated. The most classical examples are the lives of M. Gandhi, A. Schweitzer, Theresa and some others. Therefore altruism has an untainted reputation while egoism is sometimes considered to be one of the \u201cworst\u201d. As A. Waterman puts it, \u201cthe pursuit of self-interest is thought to yield a sense of alienation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[660,460],"tags":[788],"class_list":["post-12927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","category-austrian-mentality","tag-awareness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toktali.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toktali.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toktali.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toktali.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toktali.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.toktali.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toktali.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toktali.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toktali.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toktali.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThat\u2019s why, our wish for a person not to be an egoist is ambiguous: it may imply the directive not to be oneself and not to love oneself thus suppressing free personality development [Fromm, 1990].
\nThe detailed review on the subject demonstrates the predominance of the egoism ideology in the conceptions of Freud, Neo-Freudians (Fromm, Horny, Sullivan), humanistic psychologists (Maslow, Rogers) and other contemporary schools in the psychology of personality, social psychology and psychotherapy.
\nModern positive psychology which has been gaining popularity for the last two decades tries to disclaim any allusions between egoism and the pursuit of happiness. Arthur Schopenhauer, the famous German philosopher, considered egoism to be the basis of a person\u2019s \u201cwill for life\u201d which in its turn transforms into the tireless chase of happiness. Z. Freud considered individual development to be the product of interference between the two tendencies: the egoistic will for happiness and the altruistic aspiration for living in community.<\/p>\n
\nBeing uncritically perceived, such ideas can be especially harmful during the transition period from the socialist collectivism to the capitalist individualistic mentality in the republics of the former USSR.
\nBeing highly valuable in the eyes of other people, altruism becomes quite attractive just for an egoist. The latter may propagate and demonstrate her ostentatious \u201caltruism\u201d, at the same time keeping in mind her true egoistic motives. This is done because an egoist needs a certain respect from the others in order to pursue her own interests. A person will consider the fulfilment of such public duties as her top priority which will bring the highest possible benefit to herself. That\u2019s why any seemingly altruistic action may possess egoistic motives at its bottom.
\nAs Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy puts it, \u201cpsychological hedonism is considered to be a specific version of psychological egoism. It restricts the range of self-interested motivations to only pleasure and the avoidance of pain\u201d.
\nHere is a simple test on the egoistic\/altruistic motivation contrived by the author which has appeared by the way, due to the positive psychology influence. If we ask for example an egoist and an altruist whether any of them wants to be happy, both will give the affirmative answer. Consequently, each of them wants happiness for himself \u2013 disregarding his attitude towards others. As we know already, striving for happiness is closely linked to egoism. The altruist\u2019s own desire to become happier reveals that he is not altruistic \u201cto the bone\u201d.<\/p>\n
\nAs Martin Luther stated, \u201ca saint is a person who understands the egoism in his every motive\u201d. It\u2019s hardly possible to imagine \u201cgenuine\u201d altruist, who endlessly helps other people and pays no attention to himself. Such hypothetic idealist will die soon because he may regard food and sleep (perhaps, even breathing) as the evidence of her egoism.
\nAll acts are selfish, and their variety and the principles that govern them are the object of investigation. This is a significant theoretical gain\u2026 If all acts are selfish it can hardly reflect a vice to act selfishly\u2026 Acts that are altruistic typically are also acts that serve to enhance personal well-being\u201d.<\/p>\n
\nA. Waterman\u2019s argues that people with individualistic traits have a better social functioning and social attitudes including tolerance, helping, cooperation and non-manipulative acceptance of others. Thus egoism and altruism are not only compatible but largely indissoluble in everyday life situations. Most of the helping behaviours make the actor stronger as well \u2013 especially when he finds an \u201cegoistic\u201d opportunity for his own self-development or at least his mental state amelioration. In the opposite case, when egoism does not fulfil its protective functions, the \u201caltruistic\u201d worker may get a quick burnout.
\nPerson\u2019s activity directed at her own good (especially in the sphere of self-realisation) usually brings value to other people \u2013 immediately or in future. A \u201cstrong egoist\u201d may see useless (and senseless) to cooperate with a more \u201cweak\u201d person, because the \u201cstrong\u201d gets no good from such a cooperation. At the same time, the \u201cstrong\u201d may get a lot of \u201charm\u201d and therefore become \u201cweaker\u201d. Normally the \u201cstrong\u201d does not exploit the \u201cweak\u201d but simply refrains from unnecessary and useless contacts.
\nThat is, non-self-interested motives usually give way to self-interested motives when there is a conflict. As a result, we may say that human action in general is predominantly motivated by self-interest.<\/p>\n
\nThe situation becomes more complicated if we take into account not only A. Schweitzer\u2019s actions but the underlying motivation as well. For example, one can be of benefit for other people if he wants to raise his self-esteem. In such a frame, A. Schweitzer\u2019s activity was far from being exclusively unselfish. At the beginning of his medical career, A. Schweitzer was quite an inexperienced doctor. He could have stayed and work in Europe, thus not leaving his wife with a small baby. As A. Schweitzer declared, with the help of such an activity he wanted to actually prove his faith in God who lives inside human nature. We can interpret this statement as his attempt to be godlike for the sick and uneducated Africans. It is clear such a position could not be demonstrated with the European patients who demanded high professionalism from a doctor.
\nPerson\u2019s desire to be a \u201chealing God\u201d for his grateful patients can raise his opinion about himself to the height which is unattainable for others and can bring the feeling of one\u2019s own exclusiveness.
\nStronger correlations between \u201cegoism\u201d and \u201cmeaning of life\u201d shatter the moralistic views (still very popular in the Post-soviet psychology), according to which the egoistic behaviour leads to existential dead end, while altruism allegedly helps to achieve the sense of meaning in one\u2019s life. The uncritical perception of such propaganda by unsophisticated people still makes them suitable objects for manipulation and straightforward exploitation.
\nOur results give the evidence of the opposite: just the unscrupulous altruism has more chances of bringing existential vacuum than the egoism dealing with a person\u2019s self-realisation.<\/p>\n