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23. Ethics / A. Egoism / 1. Ethical Egoism

[view that people should put themselves first]

26 ideas
We should behave well even if invisible, for the health of the mind [Plato]
Wickedness is an illness of the soul [Plato]
For a Cyrenaic no one is of equal importance to himself [Aristippus young, by Diog. Laertius]
Nobody would choose all the good things in world, if the price was loss of identity [Aristotle]
A man is his own best friend; therefore he ought to love himself best [Aristotle]
Self-interest is a relative good, but nobility an absolute good [Aristotle]
The greatest good is not the achievement of desire, but to desire what is proper [Menedemus, by Diog. Laertius]
Cynics believe that when a man wishes for nothing he is like the gods [Diog. Laertius]
Reason demands nothing contrary to nature, and so it demands self-love [Spinoza]
Self-satisfaction is the highest thing for which we can hope [Spinoza]
Self-interest is not intrinsically good, but its absence is evil, as public good needs it [Shaftesbury]
No moral theory is of any use if it doesn't serve the interests of the individual concerned [Hume]
Self-interest is not rational, if the self is just a succession of memories and behaviour [Sidgwick, by Gray]
The noble soul has reverence for itself [Nietzsche]
People do nothing for their real ego, but only for a phantom ego created by other people [Nietzsche]
Nietzsche rejects impersonal morality, and asserts the idea of living well [Nietzsche, by Nagel]
Only the decline of aristocratic morality led to concerns about "egoism" [Nietzsche]
A wholly altruistic morality, with no egoism, is a thoroughly bad thing [Nietzsche]
Egoism is inescapable, and when it grows weak, the power of love also grows weak [Nietzsche]
The question about egoism is: what kind of ego? since not all egos are equal [Nietzsche]
The ego is only a fiction, and doesn't exist at all [Nietzsche]
Morality would improve if people could pursue private interests [Weil]
Good actions can never be justified by the good they brings to their agent [Foot]
Loving oneself is not a failing, but is essential to a successful life [Frankfurt]
Egoism submits to desires, but cannot help form them [Graham]
Personal concern for one's own self widens out into concern for the impersonal [Korsgaard]