History
Ethical egoism, as a category of moral philosophies, was introduced by the philosopher Henry Sidgwick in his The Methods of Ethics, written in 1874. Sidgwick compared egoism to the philosophy of utilitarianism, writing that whereas utilitarianism sought to maximize overall pleasure, egoism focused only on maximizing individual pleasure.
Since the introduction of the term, ethical egoism has been retroactively applied to philosophers before Sidgwick. The philosophy of Yang Zhu (4th century BCE), Yangism, is considered to be egoist. Yangism views wei wo, or "everything for myself", as the only virtue necessary for self-cultivation. Although ancient Greek philosophers believed in individual virtue ethics, philosophers like "Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics not accept the formal principle that whatever the good is, we should seek only our own good, or prefer it to the good of others." The beliefs of the Cyrenaics, however, have been referred to as a "form of egoistic hedonism," unlike the hedonistic virtue ethics of the Epicureans.
Read more about this topic: Ethical Egoism
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“I feel as tall as you.”
—Ellis Meredith, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 14, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“Let it suffice that in the light of these two facts, namely, that the mind is One, and that nature is its correlative, history is to be read and written.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
“Certainly there is not the fight recorded in Concord history, at least, if in the history of America, that will bear a moments comparison with this, whether for the numbers engaged in it, or for the patriotism and heroism displayed.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)