In our society, selfishness is considered a negative trait of character. It is believed that egoists love only themselves, neglect the interests of society, so no one loves them.
In fact, I would apply a universal rule to this concept: “Everything is medicine, everything is poison. It’s just a matter of the dose.”
Also, egoism, based on two basic human instincts: the instinct of self-preservation and the instinct of reproduction, first of all, of course, serves to satisfy the interests of the person himself. Thanks to selfishness, a person gets resources for himself in the form of money, power, fame, wants to get all the best and use it to his advantage.
But this desire of a person does not necessarily harm others. Very often it coincides with the interests of society.
For example, when a person wants to become rich and opens a company, hires employees, produces products and sells them to people, then in this case, enriching himself, he also benefits society.
It’s another matter if a person robs passers-by for the sake of his enrichment, steals from the treasury, mercilessly exploits his employees. In this case, the egoism of a person clearly conflicts with the interests of society.
So is power. When a politician fights for a high post, he stands up for the interests of the citizens of the country. Society supports such a politician, although it is clear to everyone that a person seeks power for a reason, but to satisfy his ego.
And as soon as a politician shows by his actions that he puts his personal interests above the interests of the state, then such selfishness becomes harmful to society, and society seeks to get rid of such a leader.
In the same way, this mechanism works with respect to fame. While an actor, singer or athlete entertains society for the sake of his fame or glorifies his state with medals and records, such selfishness does not cause rejection in society. People support them and admire them.
But as soon as one of the idols commits an immoral act, that is, encroaches on the foundations of the society in which he lives, then society turns away from him.
So within certain limits, namely, as long as a person’s selfishness does not harm society, but, on the contrary, benefits, a person’s desire for wealth, power and fame should be encouraged. And only when a person’s egoism comes into conflict with the interests of society, such egoism should be condemned and suppressed.
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