Is selfishness always wrong or can it be a form of self-preservation?
This is Part 6 in a series of articles about the “Self.”
Are there good kinds of selfishness?
Does it depend on our definition of selfishness?
(This is No. 6 in a continuing series of articles about the Self. If you would like to read more on the Self, please see the links to other posts below).
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Before we come to any conclusions regarding conventional wisdom, let’s look at the Oxford definition.
SELFISH DEFINED
“Concerned chiefly with one’s own personal profit or pleasure at the expense of consideration for others.”
That’s a pretty well accepted definition, isn’t it?
We think of being selfish as somewhat mean-spirited but “mean-spirited” implies that someone actually thought about NOT being selfish and acted that way anyway.
Maybe the person was just thoughtless.
But thoughtlessness, although connected to selfishness, ISN”T always selfishness, except in its mildest form.
So let’s not go there.
Instead, let’s focus on the two key words/phrases:
“personal profit” and “pleasure.”
Then let’s eliminate the most obvious cases of these kinds of selfishness: personal profit for money and pleasure of the senses.
Those are too easy.
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Frank Daley
daleyfrank0@gmail.com
