Selfishness is Believing the Ends Justify the Means
Selfishness is putting yourself ahead of other people. Many people think that Capitalism makes people selfish - people look to make money over any other consideration. I don’t think that’s true - if you create value, you can trade that value for money. But I want to look at selfishness from a different lens.
Selfishness is believing “the ends justify the means.” When you want an outcome to happen so badly that you justify any method to accomplish it, you’re saying that your opinion is right and supersedes every other person’s opinion.
Is there anything more selfish than that?
Deferring to Bernard Mandeville whose opinion on selfishness supersedes mine (and precedes every other person’s):
“Fools only strive To make a Great an Honest Hive T’ enjoy the World’s Conveniencies, Be fam’d in War, yet live in Ease, Without great Vices, is a vain Eutopia seated in the Brain.“
— Bernard Mandeville (“The Grumbling Hive”, 1705)
“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.” — Adam Smith (“The Wealth of Nations”, 1776)