# Self-Love

## Definition

The natural human concern for one's own advantage and well-being, which Smith identifies as the more reliable foundation for economic cooperation than benevolence, since individuals are more responsive to their own interests than to others' needs.

## Source Chapter

Book I, Chapter 2

## Context

Smith argues that we address ourselves not to the humanity but to the self-love of economic actors, establishing self-interest as the fundamental principle that makes economic exchange possible and reliable.

## Economic Domain

General Theory

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