Self love has often been seen as a moral flaw, akin to vanity and selfishness. The Merriam-Webster dictionary later describes self-love as being “love of self” or “regard for one's own happiness or advantage.” Synonyms of this concept are “amour propre, bighead, complacency, conceit, conceitedness, ego, egotism, pomposity, pompousness, pride, pridefulness, self-admiration, self-assumption, self-conceit, self-congratulation, self-esteem, self-glory, self-importance, self-love, self-opinion, self-satisfaction, smugness, swelled head, swellheadedness, vaingloriousness, vainglory, vainness, vanity”. However, throughout the centuries this defintion has taken a more positive connotation through self-love protests, the Hippie era, the new age feminist movement as well as the increase in mental health awareness that promote self-love.
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Traditional views
Cicero considered those who were sui amantes sine rivali (lovers of themselves without rivals) were doomed in the end to failure – a theme taken up by Francis Bacon in his condemnation of extreme self-lovers who would burn down their own home only to roast themselves an egg.
Self-Love was first recognized in 1563 but was only later studied by philosophers William James and Erich Fromm who studied emotional human behaviour such as self-esteem and self-worth. However, it was later defined in 1956 by psychologist and social philosopher Erich Fromm proposed that loving oneself is different from being arrogant, conceited, or egocentric, meaning instead caring about oneself and taking responsibility for oneself.
Augustine however - with his theology of evil as a mere distortion of the good - considered that the sin of pride was only a perversion of a normal, more modest degree of self-love.
Twentieth century re-interpretations
Eric Fromm proposed a re-evaluation of self-love in a positive sense, arguing that in order to be able to truly love another person, a person needs first to love oneself, in the way of respecting oneself, and knowing oneself (e.g. being realistic and honest about one's strengths and weaknesses). .
Erik H. Erikson similarly wrote of a post-narcissistic appreciation of the value of the ego; while Carl Rogers saw one result of successful therapy as the regaining of a quiet sense of pleasure in being one's own self.
Self-love or self-worth was later defined by A.P. Gregg and C. Sedikides in 2003 as “referring to a person's subjective appraisal of himself or herself as intrinsically positive or negative”. Robert H. Wozniak described William James's theory of self-esteem and claimed that self-love was measured in “[...] three different but interrelated aspects of self: the material self (all those aspects of material existence in which we feel a strong sense of ownership, our bodies, our families, our possessions), the social self (our felt social relations), and the spiritual self (our feelings of our own subjectivity)”
Mental Health and Self-Love
Mental health was first described William Sweetser (1797-1875) as the maintenance of mental "hygiene”. His analysis was demonstrated in his essay "Temperance Society" published August 26, 1930 and claimed that regular maintenance of your mental hygiene created a positive impact on the well-being of individuals and the community as well.
According to the American Association of Suicidology, there have been 44,193 suicides in 2015 alone, 5,491 of them being youth aged from 15–24 years old. The number of teenager and young adult suicides is escalating at an alarming rate every year, further demonstrating that social environment has an impact on mental health conditions. The association conducted a study in 2008 which researched the impact of low self-esteem and lack of self-love and its relation to suicidal tendencies and attempts. They defined self-love as being “beliefs about oneself (self-based self-esteem) and beliefs about how other people regard oneself (other-based self-esteem). It concluded that “depression, hopelessness, and low self-esteem are implicated as vulnerability factors for suicide ideation” and that “these findings suggest that even in the context of depression and hopelessness, low self-esteem may add to the risk for suicide ideation.” This type of study demonstrates how lack of self-love can single-handedly cause suicidal thoughts and attempts.
Self-Love Promotion
History
Self-love was first promoted in the early years of the Hippie era also known as the Beat Generation of the 1960’s. After witnessing the devastating consequences of World War II and having troops still fighting in the Vietnam War, western and North American societies began promoting “peace and love” to help generate positive energy and to promote the preservation of dissipating environmental factors such as the emergence of oil pipelines and the recognition of pollution caused by the greenhouse effect .
These deteriorating living conditions caused worldwide protests that primarily focused on ending the war but secondarily promoted a positive environment aided by the fundamental concept of crowd psychology. This post-war community was left very vulnerable to persuasion but began encouraging freedom, harmony and the possibility of a brighter, non-violent future. These protests took place on almost all continents and included countries such as the United States (primarily New York City and California), England and Australia. Their dedication, perseverance and empathy towards human life defined this generation as being peace advocates and carefree souls.
The emergence of the feminist movement began as early as the 19th century but only began having major influence during the second wave movement that included women’s rights protest which inevitably led to the women gaining the right to vote. These protests not only promoted equality but they suggested that women recognize their self-worth through the knowledge and acceptance of self-love. Elizabeth Cady Stanton used the Declaration of Independence as a guideline to demonstrate that women have been harshly treated throughout the centuries in her feminist essay titled “Declaration of Sentiments”. She claims that “all men and women are created equal; [...] that among these [rights] are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;”. and that without these rights, the capacity to feel self-worth and self-love is scarce. This historical essay suggests that a lack of self-esteem and fear of self-love affects modern women due to lingering post-industrial gender conditions.
Modern Self-Love Platforms
The emergence of new technologies has given society an easier way to communicate with one another and research faster. Social media has created a platform for self-love promotion and mental health awareness in order to end the stigma surrounding mental health and to address self-love positively rather than negatively.
A few modern examples of self-love promotion platforms include: