What is self-interest?
Depending on which science interprets the concept, it acquires new facets. If we abstract from the initially negative connotation, self-interest is not only a negative phenomenon. It can be revealed in one of the following aspects:
- The desire for profit and personal benefit. Sociology, as a field of knowledge about processes in society, does not approve of such a passionate desire placed above moral values.
- Inability or unwillingness to do good just like that, without material reward. Self-interest is closely related to a decrease in the need for moral satisfaction from approval and verbal gratitude.
- The motive for committing a crime is theft, murder, fraud.
Self-interest - psychology
Science, which reveals the mechanisms of the work of human consciousness, calls self-interest the highest form of egoism, because at least once in a lifetime every person experiences such impulses. A selfish person is a person who regularly becomes a victim of his base desires to earn more and quickly. Psychology cannot fight prudence, but this science can give a person the motivation to suppress it in his character.
Related words
A person obsessed with a passion for wealth was called a self-seeker. This word was also used to refer to someone who is unscrupulous in the means of obtaining profit. To be selfish means to pursue mercantile goals. And finally, to self-interest - to receive benefits. Other cognate words: greed, selfish, selfish. These nouns are listed in Dahl's dictionary. In modern speech they can hardly be appropriate. Of all the above words, only two are found in oral and written use today - selfish, self-interest.
How to understand selfish goals?
Criminal law and psychology are two branches of science that know the answer to the question of how to recognize selfish goals. For specialists, the reasons to distinguish them help them carry out their work. Relationships between people are not always honest, just as a selfish motive can become a reason for a conversation with a psychologist or a prison sentence. Three factors will help you understand whether a person was selfish during a particular act:
- his personal attitude to the event;
- the motives that pushed him to act;
- relationship with the object.
Synonyms
The concept of “self-interest” can be replaced by such nouns as greed, commercialism, greed, and acquisitiveness. The meaning of this word in modern Russian is somewhat different from the semantic meaning it had one hundred or two hundred years ago. Previously, in common parlance, the concept of “self-interest” was often used in relation to business. The meaning of the word in this case did not have a negative connotation. An activity that generates income was called selfish business. Synonyms for the adjective in this meaning are profitable, profitable, giving profits.
If they said about a person that he lives not selfishly, but poorly, then it was meant that he was excessively wasteful. The proverb “not selfishly, but not offensively” can be applied to an enterprise that did not bring any benefit, but did not cause harm either. Synonyms for the adverb formed from the word whose meaning this article is devoted to are useful, beneficial, good.
Self-interest is a word that was previously also used to mean growth, percentage. Below are verbs and adjectives formed from this word. But most of them are not used in modern speech.
Self-interest in marriage
The more difficult a life situation is, the more actively a person strives to correct it as soon as possible. Marriage to a rich or influential partner is one of the easy tools for gaining financial freedom, albeit at the expense of your own feelings. A selfish person can be either a man or a woman, but the fair sex is more often accused of being prudent when starting a family. It is expected that in such a marriage the two main problems will be:
- Joint leisure
. When spouses are connected only by money, they will not be able to come to terms with each other’s musical preferences, hobbies and views on life. - Sexual relationships
. Selfish intentions will not make partners experience passion and satisfaction in bed.
Antonyms
Concepts that are opposite in meaning to the phrase “selfish person” are unmercenary, altruist, selfless person. Examples:
- The poet sought to appear unmercenary, and therefore avoided any situations that could convict him of being self-interested.
- Altrust is a person who acts for the benefit of others without pursuing selfish goals.
Self-interest in Orthodoxy
The Christian religion calls the sin of love of money one of the most common and dangerous sins. The priests believe that society is poisoned by the culture of consumerism, so the people who enter it do not see that they are driven by the cult of money and self-importance. Selfishness hinders the salvation of the soul, so Orthodoxy advises fighting it in the following ways:
- Ascetic lifestyle
. Modesty in clothing, food and entertainment will help not only save money, but also pacify the passions caused by its excess. - Formation of correct value guidelines in children
. So that children are not as unhappy as their parents, who instilled in them a love of success and wealth, they need to be reoriented towards respect and mercy. - Conversations with ministers of religion
. Communication with a priest and like-minded people in the faith will give a feeling of unity and support.
Sayings of the greats
Self-interest is a human vice. Writers, philosophers and poets have said a lot about him. The ancient Greek politician Chilo argued that any punishment is better than vile self-interest. After all, the first thing can only upset you for once. Self-interest is forever.
Another ancient sage, Sallust, believed that selfishness deprives people of their most cherished feelings. Namely, love for the fatherland, family, desire for kindness and purity.
The Persian poet Rumi Jalalleddin was sure that self-interest lives in the soul of every person. She, like other vices, is alien only to the slave of love. Fonvizin said a lot about this character trait, as a vile human vice. But, like Jalalleddin, the writer argued that love is stronger than greed.
Chinese philosopher Hong Zichen recommended getting rid of selfish thoughts. Since their appearance, knowledge turns into recklessness, firmness into cowardice, and purity into depravity. But Voltaire did not consider self-interest to be the most terrible human vice. More crimes, according to the French writer, are capable of being committed by violent jealousy.
We can say that with each passing century people view self-interest more and more favorably. Margaret Mitchell, for example, advised not to confuse this vice with such a positive character trait as foresight. However, the American writer (or her heroine) admitted that this was one and the same thing. John Kennedy argued that selfless people live only in illusions, while selfish people have much more opportunities. After all, they have money, and with it you can buy almost everything, including illusions.
Brief description of concepts
In the legal and psychological fields, a selfish criminal is an individual who, over the course of his life, under the influence of socio-economic factors, has developed a special behavioral model. This model in psychology is called situational dependence of behavior.
Acquisitive crimes are crimes against someone else's private property. They can be committed in the form of illegal appropriation of someone else's property in order to obtain additional funds from this property, as well as for the purpose of illegitimate use or disposal of private property.
According to statistics, selfish intent is the most common motive for crimes - in 45-50% of cases.
Types and features
The main types of crimes of mercenary criminals:
- robbery;
- fraud;
- extortion;
- robbery.
The category of mercenary crimes also includes actions of an economic nature (production and use of counterfeit banknotes, bribes). The most common features are:
- Fraud is the most popular trend in modern society.
- Encroachments are applied outside of economic activity.
- The main motivation of the criminal: obtaining material benefits, getting rich quickly and easy money.
- Theft is the most common form of appropriation of another person's private property.
- The fraudster pursues a specific goal: the conversion of someone else’s property in favor of the culprit, illegal seizure.
Causes
There are a number of reasons that push a person to commit crimes:
- financial difficulties;
- shortcomings in the legislative sector;
- lack of government control over the economic and business spheres of activity;
- economic-social inequality;
- low rate of crime detection, since law enforcement agencies do not always cope with the assigned tasks;
- public legal nihilism;
- marginalization of the population and high unemployment rates.
Selfish crimes are a consequence of a person’s selfish orientation. It is influenced by the previously mentioned factors, although the vast majority of individuals have selfish motives and desires.
Basic classifications of mercenary criminals
One of the first was created by Aristotle; he identified two types: the self-interest of the poor and the rich. The former lack vital items. The latter have a craving for excess. They strive to accumulate as much as possible.
These two categories are still relevant now, because social inequality is present in the 21st century.
There is another classification that distinguishes between types of selfish criminals. They are determined by psychological stability and readiness to implement criminal plans.
- Situational - a crime is committed as a result of a difficult life situation. Most likely, this person has not previously broken the law.
- Unstable - a person also commits a selfish crime for the first time, but before he was noticed to have immoral acts. They can be very different, up to the unfair distribution of property rights.
- A malicious person is a criminal type of personality who has committed offenses (serious and moderate) more than once, incl. he could be punished for them.
- A particularly malicious person is a person who systematically commits serious crimes and has been imprisoned more than once.
Based on the nature of the motivation that stimulates the emergence of selfish attitudes, criminology identifies five main personality types.
- Family - offenses are committed in the interests of relatives.
- Drug and alcohol crimes are carried out to obtain a new dose of alcoholic beverages or drugs.
- It is stated that enrichment through illegal means is necessary to raise self-esteem.
- Gaming - a person needs thrills, so he commits selfish atrocities, thereby taking risks and satisfying his desires.
- Maladaptive - Delinquency is carried out to survive or to adapt to the environment.
For mercenary criminals, career development begins much earlier than for other lawless criminals. Therefore, by the age of 30, they accumulate extensive experience in criminal atrocities and form certain habits towards an immoral lifestyle.
