What do you call someone who lives for himself?

What do you call someone who lives for himself? If someone lives his life solely to achieve his own life goals and not want to associate his life with others', what would you call him?

I know some of you would probably give answers such as A) hedonist, B) narcissist, but I disagree. Because:

A) A hedonist is someone who lives in pursuit of pleasure, and hedonism is a doctrine that the pursuit of pleasure is the highest good. This person in question neither lives for pleasure, nor places pleasure as an important factor.

B) A narcissist is someone who is vain, or derives erotic gratification from admiration of his or her own physical or mental attributes. The person in question is also not a narcissist because he does not admire himself; he merely lives for his own good, as mentioned in the question.

So once again, what do you call someone who devotes his life solely to achieving his own life goals? Please, he is not a hedonist, not a narcissist, and most certainly not selfish. Assume he is not.

Solution 1:

Perhaps self-absorbed

absorbed in one's own thoughts, activities, or interests

or egocentric

regarding everything only in relation to oneself; self-centered; selfish

or self-centered

concerned solely with one's own desires, needs, or interests

SUPPLEMENT

Also consider self-directed

(of persons) free from external control and constraint in e.g. action and judgment

Note that this term is often applied to someone who does attend to the needs of other but exerts a good deal of independence in doing so.

and autonomous

Not controlled by others or by outside forces; independent

Solution 2:

First off, he certainly sounds selfish by your description. I don't know why you don't want that as an answer. In any case, a better fit would be an egoist:

egoist
1. a person who is preoccupied with his own interests; a selfish person
2. a conceited person; egotist
3. (Philosophy) Ethics a person who lives by the values of egoism

If you want to get more poetic, you could call such a person an island to contrast with the expression no man is an island. I can't guarantee that you would be understood though.

Solution 3:

The word selfish has come to bear a pejorative sense, but this is not so always according to the dictionary (emphasis mine).

Selfish:

Chiefly or wholly concerned with one's own welfare and interests, usually when accompanied by a disregard for others (Chambers)

If you need a word for selfish that does not have the negative connotation, I'd suggest self-interested.

Solution 4:

"Solipsist" comes to mind pretty readily. That would entail a whole Weltanschauung that even questions the existence of other minds (something that can't be proved, in any case). "Megalomaniac" also, though that would seem to imply the use of power more than the meaning you seem to be seeking. The good, old, and simple "selfish" would seem to do the job, too.

I don't see any way that any person such as you describe can not be considered to be selfish since your definition is pretty close to the exact definition of what "selfish" means.

"Hikikomori" is a word I've seen quite a bit lately. In English, it implies an almost pathological withdrawal. But in Japanese, it really just means a preference for solitude, a sort of becoming a hermit, but not to get away from anyone, just to go toward the goal of being alone. (If anyone can get what I'm trying to say....)