The man who does not value himself, cannot value anything or anyone.
~AYN RAND, author of The Virtue of Selfishness
Morality and selfishness are not opposites
Morality and selfishness sound like opposites, but not according to the Russian-American novelist of the 1950s, Ayn Rand. She thought that it was obvious that behavior rationally meant puting your own interest first. You actually have a duty to be selfish.
Altruism or self-sacrifice are immoral, she claimed, as it is asking for help from others.
Philosophy of Objectivism
Rand’s approach which she labeled objectivism starts from the claim that it is an objective reality out there and that human beings understand it through reason, not emotion. We survive by pursuing our own rational self-interest. The highest moral purpose was that each of us to pursue his or her own happiness. The weak shouldn’t expect any help from the strong.
All forms of connectivism were evil in her eyes. The role of government was nothing more than to protect individual rights of ownership and to let the powerful florish.
