Table Of ContentA Bible Not Borrowed from the Neighbors.
Essa_ys C7'Aphorisrns on Egoism
Edited by Kevin l Slaughter
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UNDERWORLD AMUSEMENTS
PAPERBACK ISBN: 978-0-9885536-1-3
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tirbeo okTh e Philosophy of Egoism byJ ameLs.W alkeIrn.i timayl gloya wla st o
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-Kevin I. Slaughter
Publisher
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CONTENTS
DEFINITION
DefinitoifEo gnosi &s mA ltruism 7
THE PHILOSOPHY OF EGOISM
l11Peh ilosoofEp ghoyi sm IO
James L. Walker
BiograpShkiectoacflh] amLe.Ws a lker
Henry Replogle
Q!ZOTES, APH 0 RISMS, MAXIMS
Testimooftn hyAe p ostolfEe gso ism !02
EgoiassTm a ugbhyTt h oreau I08
ViHae llorosa III
TheE ag&l el 11Sce rpent 114
Wisdo&m W ickednoefLs asR ochefoucauld 116
Wisdo&m WickednoefCs hsa mfort I23
Flasso hfLe ightnfriomnN gi etzsche 127
ESSAYS, EPISTLES, ASSAULTS
NietzsocnAh teh eiPsems,s imSicshmo,p enhauer
Translated by Thomas Common
DarwinIinSs omc iolAo Rgeyp:tl oyN ietzsCcrhiet'isc s. 136
Thomas Common
TheL anodft hAel truAi Psatrsa:fob rlt eh Ien fanCtl ass.
John Beverley Robinson
WhyW omenN eeEdg oism I43
Fraulein Lepper
AnA ppprecioafSt tiiomne r 145
john Henry Mackay
1hatB lesWsoerddA ltruism
John Erwin McCall
AeschyaltMu asr athAorncW: e S avebdyL ovoerb yH ate?
John Erwin McCall
l11Ree ligoifEo gno isAm P:r ayfoerMr o reB itterness. I57
john Erwin McCall
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DEFINITIONS OF
EGOISM & ALTRUISM
Altruists build in the air. I have unbounded faith in what is
called human selfishness. I know no other foundation to build
upon. When we cease quarrelling with this indestructible in
stinct of self-preservation and learn to use it as one of the great
est forces of nature, it will be found to work beneficently for all
mankind, and "the stone which has been rejected by the build
ers will become the chief corner-stone."
-Mrs. E. D. Linton.
The discussion of Egoism v. Altruism in Liberty has been very
interesting. To me there is no such thing as altruism-that
is, the doing of anything wholly for the good of others. We
do things for self-satisfaction. I wonder if there are any altru
ists who would go to hell (presuming there be a hell) in order
that their neighbors should go to heaven (presuming there be a
heaven)? There is no hope of reward in hell, and a true altruist
must expect no reward for his acts. One who would undergo
all the tortures of hell so that his neighbors could enjoy all the
pleasures of heaven would be an altruist indeed.
-J A. Labadie.
Egoism is not merely an idea. It is a fact-the force of a man
untrammeled by superstition. It may be more or less generous
or ungenerous; thus he may be called selfish or unselfish in the
common speech. He may be more or less impulsive, more or
less deliberate and reflecting. He may so feel and act as to be
called very dutiful, the Egoist relation to all objects is condi
tioned quite differently from that of the mentally unfree .man.
If he cares for others it is not because he is taught that it is his
7
"duty" -a teaching which puts a fetter in place of attraction; but
it is because he is built that way, and this he knows.
-TakKak.*
ON THE MORAL LITTLENESS OF NON-EGOISTS. In propor
tion as morality is emotional-i.e., has affinity with art-it
will exhibit itself in direct sympathetic feeling and action; and
not as the recognition of a rule. Love does not say, "I ought to
love"; it loves. Pity does not say, "It is right to be pitiful"; it pit
ies. Justice does not say, "I am bound to be just"; it feels justly.
It is only where moral emotion is comparatively weak that the
contemplation of a tale or theory mingles with its action, and
in accordance with this we think experience, both in literature
and- life, has shown that the minds which are preeminently di
dactic, which insist on a "lesson," and despise everything that
will convey a moral, are deficient in sympathetic emotion.
-George Eliot
"Duty" never would be missed. The genius performs his benefits
for mankind because he is obliged to do so and cannot do oth
erwise. It is an instinct organically inherent in him which he is
obeying. He would suffer if he did not obey its impulse. That
the .average masses will benefit by it does not decide the mat
ter for him. Men of genius must find their sole reward in the
fact that thinking, acting, originating, they live out their higher
qualities and thus become conscious of their originality, to the
accompaniment of powerful sensations' of pleasure. There is
no other satisfaction for the most sublime genius, as well as the
lowest living being swimming in its nourishing fluid, than the
sensation, as intensive as possible, of its own Ego.
-Nordau.
* Tak Kak was the pen name ofJames L. Walker. [ed. J
8 A BIBLE NOT BORROWED FROM THE NEIGHBORS
I use the term Egoism, like Stimer for acts of normal self-pos
session and self-expression, excluding blind crazes, fanaticism,
the influence of fixed ideas, hypnotism dominating the subject
and rendering him more of an automaton than an individual,
although he goes through the motions. Rewards and punish
ments, promised and threatened, appeal to the Egoism of ig
norant believers, but there is also an anti-individualistic craze
or fascination in religion, and love and business, when the idea
rides the man. In the last analysis it is a question of sanity or
insanity. Egoism is sanity. So we use the term, and as Stirner's
book, Der Einzige und sein Eigenthum*, has long been before
the world, his admirers have a good possessory tide to this term.
-TakKak.
* There are a number of English translations of the title. Currently
the most common is The Ego and Its Own, though a different translation
used later in this collection is The Sole One and His Prerogative. [ed. J
DEFINITIONS OF EGOISM & ALTRUISM 9
