There is nothing more natural than self-interest. But the social game is played in such a way that we are always ashamed to somehow find it, because Christianity has taught us that self-interest is bad. But on an altruistic basis, one cannot last long, especially if the rest do not too much harmonize their lives with moral imperatives. In any case, we will look at the meaning of the noun, its synonyms and origin.
Origin
Have you ever met a case where a person who started his life path well, then ended badly? This is the fate of not only people, but also words.
What could be more beautiful than the clash of swords, the battle, and then, of course, the booty that was given as a reward for victory? Nothing! And so self-interest is a noun that denotes booty obtained in battle. It used to be like this.
True, not everyone agrees in this interpretation. Some people thinkthat the noun comes from koriti, that is, "to conquer." Here “self-interest” is “share”, “part”. There is another explanation. "Self-interest" comes from the now lost word "self-interest". And it, in turn, is formed from "ristati" - "to say, to ride."
Stress and meaning
Let's start with the orthoepic norm of the Russian language. Surely the reader has noticed how some people say the word "self-interest" with an emphasis on the first syllable. So, this is the wrong choice. If a person is accustomed to the correct stress (on the second syllable), the distortion of pronunciation brings him unprecedented suffering. A dilemma also arises: to correct or not a person who speaks incorrectly? This question is difficult to answer. Let's put it this way: if you can afford to make a remark, then you need to draw the attention of the speaker to the mistake, and if you are not in line, then it is better to suffer in silence.
The meaning probably won't bring surprises, but we should mention it:
- Benefit, material benefit.
- Same as greed.
Since we are here, let's reveal the meaning of "selfishness": "The pursuit of personal gain, gain, greed." You see, self-interest only becomes a problem if there is a desire to get the most out of any situation for yourself.
Synonyms
About the complex relationship between the norm and the pathology of egoism a little later, but for now let's consider the synonyms of "self-interest":
- interest;
- benefit;
- acquisition;
- commercialism.
And, unfortunately,that's all, if not to fall into a tautology. The adjective “personal” must be mentally added to the first two positions of the list to emphasize the negativity of nouns. But we think the reader already understood everything.
The norm and pathology of self-interest
After we realized that self-interest is just terrible, we need to recover a little and calm down, and also distinguish between the concepts of self-interest and self-interest. Greed, as a rule, comes close in meaning to self-interest. How are single-root words different? When “love” is added to our noun, the benefit becomes an obsession. Now these people are in abundance. Need examples:
- It's okay to get paid at work and look for better deals.
- It's not normal when any action is considered in terms of its payback. A friend asks you to help him, and you bill for the services. True, if the "help" is systematic and free of charge, then it is already worth discussing the terms of cooperation.
As elsewhere, here the pathology is generated by excess. The desire for a good life is natural, it is unnatural to try to squeeze money out of everything and, most importantly, to infect such a desire with many broken destinies. The hero of A. P. Chekhov's story "The Gooseberry" is a suitable example in this sense.
Probably, the difference between selfishness and selfishness, well-deserved pay for work and greed is generally the topic of a separate essay. Yes, and in the sense of self-consciousness, it is very difficult to understand where the border lies.between ordinary self-respect and greed. There is a lot to think about here. So we're leaving.
