The Virtue of Selfishness (Signet)
by Ayn Rand
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Book Summary Information
Author: Ayn RandContributor: Nathaniel Branden
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1964-11-01
ISBN: 0451163931
Number of pages: 176
Publisher: Signet
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780451163936
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Book Reviews of The Virtue of Selfishness (Signet)
Book Review: Provocative ideas, even if you disagree with them
Summary: 5 Stars
There are nineteen articles in this volume, fourteen by Rand and five by Nathaniel Branden. The longest is "The Objectivist Ethics," in which Rand explains her philosophy of "Rational Self Interest." The remaining articles are examples of the application of this philosophy.
Rand contends that "that which furthers (a living being's) life is the good, that which threatens it is the evil." Thus the basic human value is "rational selfishness...the value required for man's survival."
How do people determine if something is "good or evil"? If the person experiences pleasure, it is a signal that the experience is "good" and that the person is acting properly. If the individual has pain, the feeling shows that the experience is "bad."
People understand these sensations by using their intelligence, by thinking. Since people are not born with intelligence, they must study about the world and how to think well so that they can live properly.
There are two essentials for survival: thinking and productive work. A person who tries to survive without thinking is no better than an animal. Productive work is the way people sustain themselves, getting food, adequate comfort, and time for study and self improvement. The work should be "the fullest and most purposeful use of the mind." Living by her agenda results in a feeling of pride, the realization that one has achieved the best that one can achieve.
This achievement is selfish. The individual is interested in himself, his own life, and not the life of another or of society.
The individual deals with others only when he wants to do so, without constraints or directives, unforced, in an exchange that "benefits both parties by their own independent judgment."
Society is good when it gives individuals the two things necessary for human existence: knowledge and trade. "The only proper, moral purpose of a government is to protect man's rights."
Since a person's life is the top value, how should a person act in the following examples?
1. Should a man save his wife who he loves and feels that he can't live without or twenty strangers? The wife because she is dear to him.
2. Should a man act courageously and take an unreasonable chance to save another person's life? No, his life comes first.
3. Should people devote their lives to help the poor rise from poverty? No, he should devote himself to his own concerns, his life.
4. Is faith and self sacrifice for others correct? No, they are the cause of all evil and the deterioration of humanity.
There are three problems with this volume. First, it is very repetitious. Rand's philosophy is contained in the first chapter and the book presents nothing new after it. It only rehashes the message and applies it to various situations.
Second, Rand bases her philosophy on ethics, an amorphous subject that many scholars correctly feel is very subjective. She would have done much better to base her ideas upon reality, upon what is "true and false," upon the nature of people and the laws of nature. The result is the same, but the presentation would be clearer.
Third, many philosophers would agree that the basic human nature, that which distinguishes them from animals and inanimate objects is their intelligence, and that, as Rand contends, being altruistic is not an inherent part of a human being. Yet, as Aristotle pointed out, man is a social animal, he must live with and interact with people to survive. Thus helping others is necessary, at least to some extent. Rand ignores this when she insists that altruism is evil.
Summary of The Virtue of Selfishness (Signet)
Ayn Rand here sets forth the moral principles of Objectivism, the philosophy that holds man's life--the life proper to a rational being--as the standard of moral values and regards altruism as incompatible with man's nature, with the creative requirements of his survival, and with a free society.Rand, Ayn Books
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