This study examines the early ethical foundations of the self-help genre through a comparative analysis of texts from ancient, medieval, and modern periods across diverse cultural contexts. While Samuel Smiles popularized the term “self-help” in the nineteenth century, this research traces its intellectual roots to ancient civilizations, including Egyptian ethical instructions (Ptah-Hotep), Indian Vedic and Upanishads teachings, and Qur'an moral guidance, highlighting a long-standing tradition of structured ethical reflection paired with practical advice. Central Asian contributions, particularly “Tuzuk-i Timur” and the writings of Ali Sher Nava’i, demonstrate the cultivation of personal virtue, ethical leadership, and social responsibility, filling a gap in current scholarship that often overlooks non-Western perspectives. Comparative analysis shows continuity between these early texts and modern Western self-help literature, including Dale Carnegie and Napoleon Hill, revealing enduring principles of personal improvement, moral guidance, and actionable instruction. The findings underscore the universality of human efforts to codify moral wisdom and practical guidance into teachable frameworks, offering insights into the historical and cross-cultural development of the self-help genre.

Self-help literature, ethical guidance, Tuzuk-i Timur, Ali Sher Nava’i

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