The Psychological egoism reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004
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Psychological egoism

Helping orphans the way you would do it
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.)

See also: psychological hedonism

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