View source for Ethical egoism

==History==
Ethical egoism was introduced by the philosopher [[Henry Sidgwick]] in his book ''[[The Methods of Ethics]]'', written in 1874. Sidgwick compared egoism to the philosophy of [[utilitarianism]], writing that whereas utilitarianism sought to maximize overall pleasure, egoism focused only on maximizing individual pleasure.<ref name="routledge">{{Cite book| title = Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy | chapter = Egoism and Altruism | last1 = Floridi | first1 = Luciano | last2 = Craig | first2 = Edward | year = 1998 |publisher = Taylor & Francis | isbn = 9780415187091|pages=246–247}}</ref>

Philosophers before Sidgwick have also retroactively been identified as ethical egoists. One ancient example is the philosophy of [[Yang Zhu]] (4th century BC), [[Yangism]], who views ''wei wo'', or "everything for myself", as the only virtue necessary for self-cultivation.<ref name="senghaas">{{Cite book| title = The clash within civilizations: coming to terms with cultural conflicts | year =2002 | last =Senghaas | first =Dieter |publisher = [[Psychology Press]] | isbn =  978-0-415-26228-6|page=33}}</ref> [[Ancient Greek philosophy|Ancient Greek philosophers]] like [[Plato]], [[Aristotle]] and the [[Stoicism|Stoics]] were exponents of [[virtue ethics]], and "did not accept the formal principle that whatever the good is, we should seek only our own good, or prefer it to the good of others."<ref name="routledge"/> However, the beliefs of the [[Cyrenaics]] have been referred to as a "form of egoistic hedonism",<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.iep.utm.edu/cyren/| title = Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Cyrenaics}}</ref> and while some refer to [[Epicurus]]' [[hedonism]] as a form of [[virtue ethics]], others argue his ethics are more properly described as ethical egoism.<ref name="Evans">{{Cite journal | last = Evans | first = Matthew | title = Can Epicureans be friends? | journal = Ancient Philosophy | volume = 24 | pages = 407–424 | date = 2004| issue = 2 | doi = 10.5840/ancientphil200424250 }}</ref>