EGOISM AND EGOTISM [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
Sta,—I notice that in my review of The Complete Hazlitt, published last week, the word " egoist " has been rendered " egotist " throughout. I do not know whether this is a slip on the part of the printer, or the result of profound meditation on the part of the editor who holds the popular opinion that there is no difference in meaning between the two words. That there is a popular tendency to make them mean the same thing and a -counter-tendency in philosophy to press the claims of " egoism " is indicated by the excellent Fowler. His words are worth quoting : "ego(t)ism.' The two words are modern formations of about the same date. Etymologically, there is no difference between them to affect the sense, but egoism is correctly and egotism incorrectly formed—a fact that is now, since both are established, of no importance. Egotism is, or was till recently, the more popular form, and is (perhaps conse- quently) restricted to the more popular senses—excessive use of I in speech or writing, and self-importance or self- eentredness in character. Egoism shows signs of ousting egotism even in these senses, but is also used in metaphysics and ethics as a name for the theory that a person has no proof that anything exists outside his own mind, and for the theory that self-interest is the foundation of morality.- However arbitrary the differentiation may be, it serves a useful purpose if it can yet be maintained."
The distinction, I think, is well worth making in regard to Hazlitt, for he clearly showed that he regarded himself as the only " self " in the world, that indeed his " self " was the world. It is paradoxical that in philosophy he denounced the theory of self-interest as the basis of morality, but I believe this indicates his blindness in regard to his own essential nature, a blindness peculiarly common to intensely intellectual men. Egoism seems to me a passive, pervasive quality ; egotism, aggressive and limited.
Incidentally, if egotism" is left to stand, it makes nonsense of the last paragraph of my review, for Hazlitt definitely wrote on " egotism " and in the narrow, non-philosophical sense.—I am, Sir, &e., V. S. PRITCHETT. Sortie Club, 69 Brook Street, W.I.
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