The difference between egoism and altruism highlights the distinctions between two incredible human personalities. Egoism and altruism can be regarded as two varied words. Egoism is described as the rate of being overly self-centred or selfish. On the other hand, altruism is described as the rate of being selfless. These points out to incredibility of the personalities of human beings. Psychologists have often been intrigued with this modifying personality of the human being when his activities often border on altruism and other times border on egoism. Based on these, several characteristics affect this interplay between various actions. This article tries to understand the difference using knowledge of persona nomenclature.
What is Egoism?
The word egoism can also be called egotism. This word can be described as the rate of being overly arrogant or self-centred. An egoistic individual is often selfish of other individuals and pays attention mainly to the personal self. Such an individual would go into any action that damages others and be an advantage to himself. In this notion, one can imply that the knowledge of morality and moral responsibility towards other individuals is absent in him. This can be perfectly understood using an illustration. A woman who is married and births two children intends to abandon them since they are weighing her down. The family is poor, and the husband cannot provide for the family. The woman discovers that the condition is too harsh and that she does not need to waste her life in such an unfortunate condition and decides to leave. When such a thing takes place, the individual is self-centred. She is thoughtless about the man and her family and lacks moral responsibility. Some assume that it is in human personality to be egoistic. For instance, Thomas Hobbes, a philosopher, explained that humans are biologically greedy. Based on his thoughts, men are committed to a battle against one another due to their selfish personalities. Although, one can not argue that every person is egoistic. This can be known using the idea of altruism.
What is Altruism?
Altruism can be described as unselfishness. It is a situation whereby an individual puts the necessities of others even before himself. This is the reason it can be regarded as the opposite of egoism. Such a person is so concerned about others that he forgets himself. An instance is a soldier who sacrifices himself to protect the others of his battalion and nation. Also, it is a parent that endangers themselves to protect their child. These are illustrations where a person ignores himself. In some events, altruism is at the expense of one’s self. Then it is regarded as a sacrifice. There is an intense moral responsibility and emotional affection that causes the person to be altruistic. Some assume this should not be viewed as altruism because the person placed himself forward for someone intimate with him. Instead, altruism extends more. When a person at a bus station protects the life of another who is an outsider to him, endangering his own life, this is described as altruism. Psychologists have been researching further to know why individuals engage in such behaviour.
Difference Between Egoism and Altruism
- Egoism can be described as incredible self-centeredness, while altruism can be described as selflessness.
- These two terms can be regarded as two incredibilities of human rate.
- An egoistic individual only thinks about himself, while an altruistic individual cares for others forgetting himself.
