Meanings
- archaichistoricalrareuncountableSelf-love, self-conceit
Zwingli distinguished the origin of human sin with its Greek name, philautia. Philautia promotes the self over all others, both brother and father, neighbor and God. It is the wish for "things to be better for us than for others."
2003, Lee Palmer Wandel, Always Among Us: Images of the Poor in Zwingli's Zurich, page 651 more example
There was, however, an inclination in pre-Christian Greek philosophy to speak of philautia in a different way. In Plato's Laws we first encounter the saying, apparently traditional, that "every man is naturally his own friend." This idea was to provide Aristotle with a developed theory of friendship.
2006, Oliver O'Donovan, The Problem of Self-Love in St. Augustine
Origin
Loan from Greek φίλαυτοι, nominative of φίλαυτος, a compound of phil- + auto-
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
philautia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/philautia
“philautia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/philautia. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “philautia,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/philautia.
Source: philautia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.