Edinburgh University Press
Self-love, Egoism and the Selfish Hypothesis
About this book
The dawn of the Enlightenment saw heated debates on self-love. Do people only act out of self-interest? Or is there a less pessimistic explanation for human behaviour? Maurer delves into the contributions to these debates from both famous and lesser known authors, including Lord Shaftesbury, Bernard Mandeville, Francis Hutcheson, Joseph Butler, Archibald Campbell, David Hume and Adam Smith, and puts them in their philosophical, theological and economic context. Maurer identifies five distinct conceptions of self-love and looks at their role within theories of human psychology and morality while drawing attention to the heuristic limits of our contemporary notion of egoism. He compares the central arguments and the different strategies intended to morally rehabilitate human nature and self-love before and during the Enlightenment.
Topics
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Frontmatter
i -
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Contents
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List of Tables
iv -
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Acknowledgements
v -
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Abbreviations
viii -
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1. Introduction
1 -
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2. Shaftesbury on the Self-affections and the Selfi sh Hypothesis
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3. Mandeville: Self-love, Self-liking and Augustinian Themes
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4. Hutcheson on Self-love, Benevolence and Self-cultivation
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5. Butler on Self-love as Respect of Self
117 -
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6. Campbell on True Self-love and Virtue
141 -
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7. Hume, Smith and Beyond
171 -
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8. Conclusion
206 -
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Bibliography
213 -
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Index
225
