Ethical values of egoism

I have to agree that it is already a strange concept to start a post with. My self-protective neuron/s already shout/s at me: “Stop right there! Do you know what egoism means? Read a dictionary for God’s sake!!!”. So I did:
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/egoism
“The words egoism and egotism are frequently confused, as though interchangeable, but there are distinctions worth noting. Both words derive from the Latin ego (‘I’), the first-person singular pronoun…..Egoism, a more subtle term, is perhaps best left to ethicists, for whom it denotes a view or theory of moral behavior in which self-interest is the root of moral conduct. An egoist, then, might devote considerable attention to introspection, but could be modest about it…….”
Now, coming back to the start, can egoism (the self-interest seen as the root of our moral conduct) fundament some of our ethical values, and if so, should we allow them to “flourish” further or “kill” them by rejection? First of all, I consider myself a person of common sense admitting that, in some stages of my own life, has been exposed to an individualized experience regarding egoism.
For generations, we’ve been taught to be anything else than egoists. Altruism was and still is the buzzword of the day. It is seeded in our mindset from childhood, helping us in shaping our values, moral code, and actions. And I know it does a great job. The world is a better place because of people that dedicated their efforts and lives to causes and those in need. Nevertheless, can their actions be interpreted as starting from a primary point of self-interest and thus benefiting from a small fraction of egoism’s DNA?
We’ve been used to evaluate our evolution by looking at Maslow’s theory of covering the hierarchy of needs and comparing ourselves versus it. However, we tend to forget most of the time that Maslow’s pyramid is centered mainly around what motivates us concerning our interests and welfare. I will briefly stop on the highest two needs, esteem and self-actualization, which for most of us represent the trigger and the fuel of transcending ourselves and becoming altruistic and supportive towards others.
We all need to feel respected. Only then we can build our self-esteem and self-respect. Esteem reflects our intrinsic desire to be accepted and valued by others. This is why most of us engage in the first place in a profession or hobby. It is the recognition that we expect to receive for our efforts and commitment the one that will offer us a sense of contribution or value. How egoistic can this sound?
To make it worse, 🙂 it is accepted by Maslow’s theory that the need for strength competence, mastery, self-confidence, independence, and freedom is associated with the need for the self-respect that comes from a higher state of self/esteem. Does it sound familiar? How many times it was expected from us at work, or in life, to show those characteristics? How many times we’ve been praised for showing them? And mastering these characteristics makes us “good egoists”?
I think it does. How many times we’ve pushed our teams to perform better for they should have kept pace with our intrinsic self-interested rhythm? And when we succeeded, were we also seen as helping others as well on the way? I’m not sure if this makes some of us a kind of altruists, but I know for one that we benefit these days from good and innovative medicines because, at one point in time, scientists and companies have engaged in endeavors for fulfilling their intrinsic self-interest need of being recognized and valued by others. And they put a price on it afterward. Not at all altruistic. But this is a different story that I will probably cover in a future post. 🙂
Maslow’s last stage of fulfillment, self-actualization, is based on the “What a man can be, he must be” expectation. Only through self-actualization, we can accomplish our full potential, to fulfill our desire to become the most we can be. For some, this is the moment when they start altruistically dedicating themselves to various causes. For others, it is the moment when they decide to become better parents, live athletically, or innovate. And all those that have succeeded were praised by history same as those that are doing it these days are praised by us. I tend to agree with Maslow that to understand and succeed in managing this level of need, one has not only to achieve the previous needs levels but master them in the first place.
This is why I am at peace with myself regarding my moments of egoism. Recapturing their influence on my path to this day, I agree that they are an intrinsic part of what I am today. It is not about being proud about own moments of egoism. It’s about recognizing their interference with our other values and their contribution to making us move forward. And at the end of the day, at least for me, moving forward is a good credo to live by.
I have to admit that on my way forward I’ll want to enjoy as well the presence by my side of the ones I love and those that I respect as their opinions matter much to me. My family “debate session” about egoism’s ethical values is an ongoing one and I predict will keep going for the foreseeable future. 🙂 For the rest of you, please spend a moment thinking about the topic and if you want, please let me know what your thoughts are. Only in this way, we’d be able to bring more clarity on this subject. Have you all a nice day.