Difference between egoist and egotist / egoistic and egotistic
Hi!
Could you please help me to clarify the difference between the words egoist and egotist?
In Collins dictionary they write:
An egoist is the same as an egotist.
Nevertheless, I read in vocabulary.com:
Egoistic people believe we all put our own needs before those of others. If you're sure that self-interest inspires every human action — yes, even rescuing that sweet kitten from a tree — then you, my friend, are egoistic.Don't confuse egoistic with egotistic, a word which is often, and wrongly, used interchangeably with it. To be egotistic is to have too inflated an opinion of yourself — in other words, it's a form of self-delusion rather than a particular way of looking at the world. You can be egoistic without being egotistic.
When we describe someone, would we say that he is egoist or egoistic / egotist or egotistic?
Thanks in advance!
Top answer
com/definition/us/egoism#egoism (my emphasis): The words egoism and egotism are frequently confused, as though interchangeable, but there are distinctions worth noting. Both words derive from Latin ego (‘I’), the first-person singular pronoun. Egotism, the more commonly used term , denotes an excessive sense of self-importance, too-frequent use of the word ‘I,’ and general arrogance and boastfulness.
- com/definition/us/egoism#egoism (my emphasis): The words egoism and egotism are frequently confused, as though interchangeable, but there are distinctions worth noting.
- Both words derive from Latin ego (‘I’), the first-person singular pronoun.
- Egotism, the more commonly used term , denotes an excessive sense of self-importance, too-frequent use of the word ‘I,’ and general arrogance and boastfulness.
- Egoism, a more subtle term, is perhaps best left to ethicists, for whom it denotes a view or theory of moral behavior in which self-interest is the root of moral conduct.
- An egoist, then, might devote considerable attention to introspection, but could be modest about it, whereas an egotist would have an exaggerated sense of the importance of his or her self-analysis, and would have to tell everyone.
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This is from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/egoism#egoism (my emphasis):
The words egoism and egotism are frequently confused, as though interchangeable, but there are distinctions worth noting. Both words derive from Latin ego (‘I’), the first-person singular pr
0"Usage note
egoism or egotism? The difference between these two words in ordinary use is slight, both being used as equivalents to self-centredness. The more technical uses of the two words give the clue to where the distinction should lie. Egoism is also a philosophical belief in selfishness the only real (and only proper) motive for action;
0Robertson Davies in World of Wonders has a character speaking of one of the old Actor-Managers, a man often charming, sometimes kindly, but where anything that concerns the theatre and the play is concerned, utterly implacable. The man is not an egotist, he says, but an egoist. “The egotist is all surface; underneath is a pulpy mess and a lot of self-doubt. But the egoist may be yieldin
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