Narcissism

Deriving from the myth of Narcissus, in which a beautiful youth falls in love with his own reflection, the concept of narcissism was given its first systematic treatment in Sigmund Freud's 1914 essay “On Narcissism.” Since Freud's account of narcissism remains the starting point for most subsequent discussions of the topic, this entry begins with a brief summary of Freud's views before moving on to consider some of the major questions that have consistently arisen in philosophical treatments of narcissism and self‐love. How ought we to draw the line between healthy self‐esteem and pathological narcissism? Given the apparently ubiquitous presence of “the dear self” (to use Kant's term) in human consciousness, what would it mean to cultivate a truly nonnarcissistic concern for others, and is such a thing possible – or even desirable?