The vast majority of historical evidence, when measured against an absolute scale, indicates that man is basically selfish. With no moral compass or absolutes, selfishness would be as "good" as benevolence; yet something (not a chemical reaction) within most human beings recognizes that benevolence, or caring for others is better than selfishness. In an absolute system, since selfishness and true benevolence are opposites and therefore mutually exclusive, if one is correct then the other must be wrong.
Selfish individuals live to gratify their own involuntary feelings and desires. They are actually governed by their feelings. Noah Webster's 1825 American English Dictionary defined "selfishness" as:
“The exclusive regard of a person to his own interest or happiness; or that supreme self love or self preference, which leads a person in his actions to direct his purposes to the advancement of his own interests, power or happiness, without regarding the interest of others. Selfishness, in its worst or unqualified sense, is the very essence of human depravity, and stands in direct opposition to benevolence, which is the essence of the divine character. As God is love, so man in his natural state, is selfishness.”
“The exclusive regard of a person to his own interest or happiness; or that supreme self love or self preference, which leads a person in his actions to direct his purposes to the advancement of his own interests, power or happiness, without regarding the interest of others. Selfishness, in its worst or unqualified sense, is the very essence of human depravity, and stands in direct opposition to benevolence, which is the essence of the divine character. As God is love, so man in his natural state, is selfishness.”
