The Psychological egoism reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Psychological egoism

Psychological egoism is the view that we are always motivated by self-interest, even in seeming acts of altruism.

Psychological egoism should be contrasted well with ethical egoism, which is the view that we always ought to be motivated by self-interest.

Max Stirner is known for holding this view of the human psyche. (He was also a proponent of ethical egoism.)

One criticism of the theory of psychological egoism is that it is not falsifiable.

See also: psychological hedonism

External links. More information can be found at:

• http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/e/egoism.htm
• http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/egoism/

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