Topic

Egoism

Egoism in this collection is examined with the same tools it uses to examine everything else: relentlessly. Bierce's egotist as a person of low taste more interested in himself than in me is the definition that defines both its subject and its definer. Bagehot on self-interest as the only reliable propellant of capital is the economic endorsement: egoism is not a flaw in the system but its operating principle. Napoleon on fear-and-self-interest as the two levers of human motion is the political confirmation: egoism is not exceptional but structural. Shaw on quoting-himself-for-spice is the comic self-awareness: the egotist who knows he is one has a certain advantage over the kind who doesn't. Shaw on patriotism-as-national-egoism strips the most socially acceptable form of self-interest of its disguise. Wilde on waking-up-famous is egoism confirmed by others: the mirror of public attention. What the collection argues is that egoism is not simply selfishness but the tendency to place the self at the centre of a universe that actually has no centre — a cognitive error with extensive social consequences.