Nonetheless "self-made" as obvious as it sounds put "self" first, thus any term associated with "self" is harmful IMHO. Self should be always secondary and we should really think first of the entire foundation that helped us to get where we are. It puts Gratitude first. There's a mindset change between using "self-made" and not using it. Actually I wanted to say the inverse term of self-made that hasn't self in the term, but I don't know what it is.
You make an interesting point. It would be great if we could snap our fingers and introduce a term which means the same thing as "self-made" but without the word "self". Unfortunately, that's not the case.
The second best thing we can do is spread the message about what self-made really means and what it definitely does not mean.
I don't think all terms with the word "self" are bad. Self-defense and self-aware come to mind :)
> I don't think all terms with the word "self" are bad. Self-defense and self-aware come to mind :)
Indeed, but I was referring to a word that contains the meaning of "self-made" when it should be something like "together-made". The other words as you said is fine. Thanks for replying.
It's interesting you say that because one of the normative positions in ethics is Ethical Egoism which is explicitly putting oneself first and it has had a number of proponents over the years.
However, part of it assumes that it is against one's own interest to treat someone else in a way that could backfire and hurt you and it can often be in one's self interest to help others without expecting anything in immediate return.
