Hello! Reasonable egoism is a clear conviction that one should take into account not only one’s own interests, but also take into account close people and just those around. Because fixation on oneself leads to a mandatory fiasco. Therefore, it is important to learn how to satisfy your needs in a way that does not contradict the desires and aspirations of others.
A bit of history and the essence of the theory
This theory dates back to Aristotle, who believed that friendship is impossible when people do not help each other. Later, Helvetius, Hegel and Feuerbach dealt with this topic, but the philosopher and writer Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky studied it most deeply. He talked about the usefulness of each person in relation to the society in which he is located.
Being categorically disagreeing with the conclusions of Hegel (about the spirit and the absolute idea), he gave preference to the theory of Feuerbach, who argued that human thinking exists separately from nature. Taking the creation of his inspirer «The Essence of Christianity» as the basis for the development of ideas about rational egoism, Nikolai Gavrilovich began to actively declare that religion and idealism are absolutely meaningless.
The principle of the concept of his theory was that a person performs each of his actions, thinking about the benefit, the benefit for himself. And even sacrificing your life for someone or something is still a selfish act. You can even take examples of acts of charity as a basis. What is charity for?
Everyone has their own needs, but mostly — to feel good and useful, noble, capable of doing a good deed. Some pursue the idea that the universe will then repay goodness with tenfold goodness. In general, no matter what the motive is, the main thing is that it is always there, even if it is not realized. Chernyshevsky called his followers «new people», and called on the whole society to join them.
Regarding the question of whether reasonable selfishness is useful, I will give an example from the life of a villager who takes care of livestock, feeds them, waters them and leads them to pasture. But in fact, in this way he also takes care of himself and his family, which would not live without milk and meat in a place where there are not many jobs.
Conclusion
And that’s all for today, dear readers! In order to distinguish between your needs and motives of desires, in order to understand where reasonable egoism manifests itself, and where complete disregard for yourself or loved ones, it is important to be able to listen to your feelings and experiences, as well as be aware of them. About the very concept of «mindfulness» and how to learn it, you will learn from the article the practice of awareness. Take care of yourself and loved ones!