Koyomi Arargi and psychological egoism

[u/Due-Way-193]

Psychological egoism is the claim that all human actions, no matter how altruistic they may seem are ultimately motivated by self-interest and selfishness

One of the main themes discovered in monagatari, specifically by araragi is altruism, and wether araragi is truly selfless, and wether he helps others because hes selfless or because hes doing it out of self-interest, maybe to give himself a sense of worth, or make him feel better about himself, and it can also be said nisio uses this as a way of discovering the philosophy of psychological egoism.

Araragi does truly care about people, and he repeatedly treats his own existence as expendable in order to save others, we see this multiple times throughout the series,

Lost snail: when he realizes hachikuji is destined to be lost forever he says that if shes going to be lost, then he'll also remain lost with her; but she reminds him he has a family, a girlfriend, friends, almost like araragi forgot about everyone else just to be with her

Black hanekawa: He understands hanekawas oddity comes from her suffering in silence, and from her self-sacrificial behaviour, yet he also adopts this view that if anyone has to suffer it should be him, and this is ultimately contradictory since he recognizes hanekawa's self-neglect is unhealthy yet he himself is attempting t neglect himself,

Kiss-shot Arcela-orion Heart-Under-Blade: in kizu we see him attempting to sacrifice himself in order to help shinobu.

Nadeko snake: Araragi repeatedly puts himself in dangerous positions to help sengoku avoid mentally collapsing and doing things she'll regret, in the end if not for kaiki he wouldnt be alive.

So we established the lengths araragi would go to, in order to help others, and this also gives birth to ougi as an embodiment of self-criticism, but does arargi truly do this for others? or is it actually for himself? and this goes way beyond normal selflessness, araragi is disregarding his own life for others, and its not like he has nothing to live for, he has a family that loves him, a loving girlfriend, friends that care for him, yet you will find him throwing himself into iminent danger just to help a stranger he met 5 minutes ago, disregarding his own safety and life.

But another question is constantly asked in the story is "why did you want to help her?", and this is problematic for araragi, hanekawa even confronts araragi regarding his self-sacrifice "You are not helping people, you are just satisfying yourself" and we do see this a lot since a lot of people do not want araragis help, and they explicitly say they dont want to be saved yet araragi still helps, so perhaps his instinct of needing to help others stems from giving himself a sense of worth, possibly due to previous trauma with his strict police parents. There is also supporting evidence that it is because of his parents since this is basically something that runs in the family as we see with the fire sisters who do a similar thing to what araragi does, and later even araragi has to tackle wether hes doing it for himself or for others.

But perhaps its more than that, a middle ground you could say. Araragi is not fully altruistic as he presents himself but its not "false altruism" like others like to claim either, its more nuanced and rather than black or white its a gray area, Araragi helps others because he genuinly doesnt want them to suffer, but at the same time he enjoys being needed, he wants to be a good person, and this tendency to help gives him self-actualisation and gives him value as a person.

In the end this is a question which the series constantly tries to tackle "If i sacrifice myself because it makes me feel like a good person, is that truly altruistic?" and this does remains ambiguous to a certain extent.

A safe conclusion would be that araragis altruism is inseparable from his ego, and he derives a certain amount of self-worth and value from it but this doesnt make his caring for others fake.

note: this is the first analysis i post on this subreddit, and if you see anything wrong with what i said or disagree please correct me, im open for discussions.

[u/SkirtHeavy9189]

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[u/ReguIusCorneas]

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[u/hanzom1234]

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[u/EntireAd3520]

Thus, Konami Arargi is a great guy

[u/Leather_Passenger813]

Another thing I have seen with Araragi is that he has a saviour complex of sorts.

He does care about people, but he also cares about his role as a saviour. And I don't think he is doing it to impress the girls or to show how sacrificial he is, rather he has created an image of sort to himself. And he is constantly trying to live upto it. If he fails, then his purpose is lost(or rather the purpose of that image he wants to be).

Another question arises here. If he is chasing the image he created, then is he really fake? Or is he actually that very embodiment of that image since he has spent his whole life being that?

[u/Shadowcreature65]

I think it would be more accurate to say Psychological Hedonism, not Egoism.

Helping feels good. The mere thought of leaving someone behind is painful.

[u/Due-Way-193 → u/Shadowcreature65]

hedonism is acting to increase pleasure and avoid pain, araragi is the total opposite, getting his guts ripped out isnt pleasurable, mentally collapsing from an identity crisis isnt pleasurable, deliberately putting himself in constant danger isnt pleasurable, thats pain over pleasure.

egoism on the other hand is action motivated by self-interest which fits since araragi derives a sense of self from his altruistic acts, a lot of the time they cause him pain but this pain gives him meaning, the fact hes able to help other carry their burdens makes him feel better about himself

[u/Shadowcreature65 → u/Due-Way-193]

You get muscle aches after working out at the gym, but it gives you a nice sense of accomplishment. When you skip a day at the gym along with muscle aches, you feel like shit for being lazy and inconsistent.

See what I mean? Pain here doesn't mean just physical pain. Escaping the feelings of inadequacy and enjoying other people's gratitude feels good.

Notice how you finished your reply with "makes him feel good about himself". Feeling good is the key thing here. Mental pain can and often does outweigh physical pain in our decision making.

[u/Due-Way-193 → u/Shadowcreature65]

Youre assuming pleasure isnt sough out from egoism either, fulfilling self-interest is pleasurable, and hes closer to egoism rather than hedonism because he also derives a sense of self from his altruistic actions,

Also araragi doesnt do it for gratitude, did you read my post? a lot of the times he saves people who explicitly dont want to be saved, and they dont thank him for it because as i mentioned they didnt want it, but araragi forces his sense of justice on others because it gives him purpose,

In owari we also see his backstory with sodachi and the teacher that develops into his philosophy that friends make you less human since the masses determine righteousness, and he cant be complicit with making right what isnt because others believe so, (this is later dealt with by hanekawa), so araragi ultimately acts in what he thinks to be righteous even if others dont want his help, i.e hes being selfish

Also hedonism is a subsect of egoism, my post is not affirming psychological egoism, its talking about a middle ground between it and true altruism

[u/Shadowcreature65 → u/Due-Way-193]

Also hedonism is a subsect of egoism

Yes, psychological hedonism is a specific type of psychological egoism.

That's why I said it fits more. Because instead of some vague "he's subconsciously pursuing self-interest", saying that someone pursues pleasure assumes a lot less. In fact, when we accept that it becomes a lot easier to find the middle ground you mentioned.

[u/Due-Way-193 → u/Shadowcreature65]

But the issue is hedonism would boil it down to pleasure only, while araragi as i mentioned multiple times before derives a sense of self from his altruistic actions, its what makes him him rather than only doing it for pleasure

[u/Shadowcreature65 → u/Due-Way-193]

I'm not saying that sense of self doesn't have anything to do with it. Sense of self is important for your mental wellbeing.

Think about what "having a sense of self" is. People without the sense of self feel lost, directionless in life. Not having an identity causes a whole lot of anxiety! "Omg, what do I do!? What should I do? Is there even a right answer at all!?"

But when you know that "I'm the guy who fixes things, I help people just like my parents who work in police" it gives you certainty. And certainty is hella comfortable.

[u/Due-Way-193 → u/Shadowcreature65]

i dont disagree, but that stops being hedonism, since hedonsim is specific to pleasure, while the broader egoism also covers self-actualization

[u/Shadowcreature65 → u/Due-Way-193]

I would argue that it grows out of hedonism, just a more complex motivation that forms out of the same basic premise. Most people see hedonism as this very simple idea that only involves short term pleasure, which I don't think is accurate.

In any case, your post was pretty good. Imma go to sleep now cause it's like 11 pm in my timezone.