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Int J Philos Relig (2009) 66:125138
DOI 10.1007/s11153-009-9201-5
Received: 4 November 2008 / Accepted: 2 March 2009 / Published online: 18 April 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009
Abstract In recent commentary on Kierkegaards Works of Love, a distinction is commonly drawn between proper and selfish forms of self-love. In arguing that not all vices of self-focus can be captured under the heading of selfishness, I seek to distinguish selfishness from self-centredness. But the latter vice has a far more handsome cousin: proper self-focus of the kind necessary for becoming a self. As various feminist thinkers have argued, this will be missed if we valorise self-sacrice too uncritically. But nor need the latter concept be ditched. By distinguishing varieties of self-sacrice, we can see the importance of avoiding the all too easy slide from proper self-sacrice to outright self-annihilation. And we can discover that this avoidance is aided by recognising a kind of pride as part of true self-love.
Keywords Kierkegaard Self-love Self-sacrice Selfishness Self-centredness
Pride
You shall love your neighbour as yourself.1 But how do I, and how should I, love myself?
According to Harry Frankfurt in his recent book The Reasons of Love, true self-love is the deepest and most essential achievement of a serious and successful life.2 Recent naturalist accounts of self-love like Frankfurts have been criticised for lacking a concept of self-sacrice or self-denial.3 Yet self-love and self-sacrice are notorious problems in Christian thought, and the tradition is littered with apparently
1 See Matthew 22: 39; Mark 12: 31; Luke 10: 27.
2 Frankfurt (2004, p. 68).
3 See Walsh (forthcoming).
J. Lippitt (B)
Philosophy Department, University of Herfordshire, De Havilland Campus, Hateld, Herts AL10-94B, UKe-mail: [email protected]
True self-love and true self-sacrice
John Lippitt
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126 Int J Philos Relig (2009) 66:125138
incompatible claims about them. For Kierkegaard, self-denial is Christianitys essential form.4 Whereas for Alasdair MacIntyre, self-sacrice is as much of vice, as much of a sign of inadequate moral development, as selfishness.5
Countless philosophers and theologians have grappled with the problem of true self-love. This article takes its cue from the distinction in Kierkegaards Works of Love between true and improper forms of self-love, and the relation between true self-love and self-sacrice. Numerous commentators have pointed out that Kierkegaard...