Enlightened Self-Interest

The concept of 'Enlightened Self-Interest' is commonly understood to mean 'the promotion of social good that is also in one's own interest'.  Typically, the 'also' connotes a causal relation, e. g. 'Helping others makes one feel good about oneself', or 'Promotion of some public good can be profitable'.  Now, presupposed in those usages is an original Self-Society antithesis.  In contrast, Spinoza conceives that relation as Part-Whole, to which corresponds his Inadequate-Adequate distinction.  Furthermore, since Adequate Ideas empower, the contrast is one of Weaker-Stronger.  Accordingly, in his system, narrow Self-Interest is not merely unenlightened, it is a condition of relative weakness, a diagnosis to which a hyper-individualistic culture, such as that of contemporary America, is pervasively oblivious.