It is closely related to narcissism, or "loving one's self," and the possible tendency to speak or write of oneself boastfully and at great length. Egotism may coexist with delusions of one's own importance, at the denial of others. This conceit is a character trait describing a person who acts to gain values in an amount excessively greater than that which he/she gives to others. Egotism is often accomplished by exploiting the altruism, irrationality and ignorance of others, as well as utilizing coercive force and/or fraud.
Egotism differs from both altruism, or acting to gain fewer values than are being given, and egoism, a determination to gain and give an equal amount or degree of values. Various forms of "empirical egoism" can be consistent with egotism, as long as the value of one's own self-benefit is entirely individual.
Etymology
The term "egotism" is derived from the Latin ego, meaning "self" or "I", and English, -ism, used to denote a philosophy. As such, the term is etymologically related very closely with egoism.
See also
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Last updated on Thursday October 09, 2008 at 13:49:29 PDT (GMT -0700)
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