Self-love — in two senses: a healthy regard for one's own well-being (a prerequisite for loving others), and an unhealthy, excessive self-obsession akin to vanity or selfishness..
Self-love — in two senses: a healthy regard for one's own well-being (a prerequisite for loving others), and an unhealthy, excessive self-obsession akin to vanity or selfishness.
The only inward-facing love in the set. For Aristotle it underlies and enables the other loves — one must love oneself rightly to extend philia to others (“another oneself”).
φιλαυτία (philautía), from φίλος (“loving”) + αὐτός (autós, “self”).
Ancient Greek φιλαυτία, compound of φίλος + αὐτός.
Treated by Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics Book IX, ch. 8): he distinguishes base self-love from the best self-love, treating proper self-love as the root of love for others. Later traditions stressed the negative pole (vanity); modern usage often reclaims the positive (self-compassion).
One of five genuinely attested Ancient Greek love terms (primarily a philosophical term in Aristotle). See the note on the popular “8 loves” framework.