Self-interest

Look up self-interest in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

An appeal to self-interest during World War II.

Self-interest generally refers to a focus on the needs or desires (interests) of oneself. By extension, it can mean:

• Narcissism, an unhealthy self-absorption due to a disturbance in the sense of self
• Individualism, a philosophy stressing the worth of individual selves
• Psychological egoism, the view that humans are always motivated by self-interest
• Ethical egoism, the ethical position that moral agents ought to do what is in their own self-interest
• Rational egoism, the position that all rational actions are those done in one's self-interest
• Hedonism, the school of ethics which argues that pleasure is the only intrinsic good.
  • Epicureanism, a philosophical system related to hedonism
• Enlightened self-interest, a philosophy which states that acting to further the interests of others also serves one's own self-interest

See also

• Altruism
• Egoism (disambiguation)
• Interest (disambiguation)
• Self (disambiguation)
• Selfish (disambiguation)

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