What Egoism Is, and Why It's Important

Egoism is the philosophy which advocates placing yourself as your own primary value, as opposed to concepts such as morality, virtue, justice, fairness, truth, duty, piety, patriotism, etc… These may be used by the egoist as tools for the advancement of his self-interest, but the realization of these ideal concepts would never be placed above his self-interest.

Contrary to popular belief, this does not mean that the egoist always chooses to advance his own physical pleasure and well-being above all else. Humans have the capacity, hardwired into most of us by evolution, to develop sympathetic bonds with other humans (or with members of other species). With such a bond, the egoist can derive psychic pleasure from the perceived happiness of those to whom he is attached, or psychic pain from their perceived unhappiness. In this fashion, the advancement of the well-being of certain others becomes part of the pursuit of the egoist’s self-interest. Unlike altruistic philosophies though, egoism does not say that it is virtuous to develop such sympathetic bonds with others. Rather, it says that if such bonds already exist, or if developing new ones would make one happier, that taking them into due consideration when making decisions would be wise.

The egoist can also seek pleasure in the setting and achievement of goals, in a sense of ‘progress’ or ‘purpose’, or in the leaving of a legacy. It’s just a matter of motivation and framing that distinguishes him from the non-egoist. The egoist leaves a legacy because the thought of doing so gives him pleasure; the non-egoist believes that they were put on this earth in order to leave a legacy. For the former, the legacy is a means to the end of advancing his self-interest; for the latter, the self is a means to the end of leaving the legacy. Am I the main thing, or is the concept (virtue, truth, legacy, etc…) the main thing? This is the key point that distinguishes the egoist from the non-egoist.

When stated in general terms like this, the difference may seem subtle and inconsequential. However, it can have very real and noticeable effects on a person’s thought process and actions: something that I try to bring out in my fictional work.

So, that is what egoism is: but why would one bother talking about, or advocating for, such a philosophy? Why not just keep quiet and use it silently our own advantage? Every proponent of egoism will have their own reasons; but I will tell you mine.

One reason is because I value individuality highly. Anything that distinguishes a person from the herd, anything that stems from their chaotic uniqueness, I delight in. As such, I take pleasure in speaking out against anything that seeks to compromise people’s individuality, including organized religion, the totalitarian State, and universalistic morality. The first two, however, are fairly well-covered already. It is easy to find atheistic and libertarian material, criticizing these two respectively. It is much more challenging to find voices who challenge the concept of morality: amoralist voices, egoist voices. This is the gap that I wish to fill.

Another reason is because I suspect that politics would become a lot saner if egoism were more widespread throughout society. If more people stuck to voting based on their own interests, rather than on fuzzy ideas about ‘the general good’ or ‘the just society’ or other such nonsense, the average political intelligence would most likely go up. It is more difficult for propagandists to delude people about what their own interests are, than it is to delude them about what ‘the interests of society’ are (mainly because ‘society’ has no interests). Also, if everyone openly acted in an egoistic manner, the shysters who are currently acting egoistically, but who manage to persuade others that they are acting altruistically (as happens routinely in political life), would lose their special advantage.

Finally, I just enjoy writing about this stuff. And if I can have an audience; even better! As Max Stirner put it: “I sing because – I am a singer. But I use you for it because I – need ears.”