Egotism

Egotism

Egotism is the motivation to maintain and enhance favorable views of self. Egotism means placing oneself at the center of one's world with no direct concern for others.

It is closely related to narcissism, or "loving one's self," and the possible tendency to speak or write of oneself boastfully and at great length. Egotism may coexist with delusions of one's own importance, at the denial of others. This conceit is a character trait describing a person who acts to gain values in an amount excessively greater than that which he/she gives to others. Egotism is often accomplished by exploiting the altruism, irrationality and ignorance of others, as well as utilizing coercive force and/or fraud.

Egotism differs from both altruism, or acting to gain "fewer" values than are being given, and egoism, a determination to gain and give an "equal" amount or degree of values. Various forms of "empirical egoism" can be consistent with egotism, as long as the value of one's own self-benefit is entirely individual.Dubious|date=March 2008clarifyme

Etymology

The term "egotism" is derived from the Latin "ego", meaning "self" or "I", and English, "-ism", used to denote a philosophy. As such, the term is etymologically related very closely with egoism.

ee also

*Rational egoism
*Rational selfishness
*Ethical egoism


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу
Synonyms:

Look at other dictionaries:

  • egotism — EGOTÍSM s.n. Atitudine individualistă care provine din acordarea unei importanţe exagerate propriei persoane. – Din fr. égotisme. Trimis de LauraGellner, 10.06.2004. Sursa: DEX 98  Egotism ≠ altruism Trimis de siveco, 02.02.2005. Sursa: Antonime …   Dicționar Român

  • Egotism — E go*tism (?; 277), n. [L. ego I + ending tism for ism, prob. influenced by other English words in tism fr. the Greek, where t is not part of the ending, as baptism. See {Egoism}.] The practice of too frequently using the word I; hence, a… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • egotism — [ē′gō tiz΄əm, eg′ōtiz΄əm; ē′gətiz′əm, eg′ətiz΄əm] n. [L ego, I2 + tism (for ISM), as in NEPOTISM] 1. constant, excessive reference to oneself in speaking or writing 2. self conceit 3. selfishness: Egotism is generally considered more opprobrious… …   English World dictionary

  • egotism — index pride Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • egotism — 1714, from EGO (Cf. ego) + ISM (Cf. ism) (see EGOTIST (Cf. egotist)). Meaning “selfishness” is from 1800 …   Etymology dictionary

  • egotism — egoism, *conceit, self love, amour propre, self esteem Analogous words: vanity, vainglory, *pride: boasting or boastfulness, vaunting or vauntfulness, gasconading (see corresponding verbs at BOAST): pluming, piquing, priding, preening (see PRIDE… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • egotism — ► NOUN ▪ the quality of being excessively conceited or absorbed in oneself. DERIVATIVES egotist noun egotistic adjective egotistical adjective …   English terms dictionary

  • egotism — egoism, egotism 1. Both are 18c words for ‘preoccupation with oneself’ in various ways. There is no etymological difference to affect their meanings, and the intrusive t in egotism is unexplained. When Fowler wrote about these words (1926),… …   Modern English usage

  • egotism — /ee geuh tiz euhm, eg euh /, n. 1. excessive and objectionable reference to oneself in conversation or writing; conceit; boastfulness. 2. selfishness; self centeredness; egoism. [1705 15; < L ego EGO + ISM; t perh. after DESPOTISM, IDIOTISM2] Syn …   Universalium

  • egotism — (= egoism), noun Darla s egotism will always thwart her chances for a lasting relationship Syn: self centeredness, egomania, egocentricity, self interest, selfishness, self seeking, self serving, self regard, self love, narcissism, self… …   Thesaurus of popular words

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”