Ayn Rand says: "Selfishness is a virtue." What do you say/think?

Answer 1

...Thus spoke ideology.

Rand did not confront the problem of her own usefulness. Had she done so, she would not have apologized for herself through her many scribbled hymns. In contrast, the thick presense of a guilty conscience is not found in the works of more talented writers, like Stendhal, for example. From Stendhal more than just one lesson can be learnt. Good natured self-forgetting obviates selfish Randism.

Answer 2

Selfishness Is A Virtue

Answer 3

What's selfishness? If it means giving higher priority to your needs and benefits before others, then there are two perspectives to it.
One, which is universally taken as the only meaning of selfishness is to be mean, cruel and nasty with others to satisfy your own narrow interests. This is definitely dangerous on the face of it. But there is no reason why one shouldn't take an action which he can benefit from. And where to draw the line between serving your own needs and where to give higher priority to others' needs? It varies from person to person and there can never be a uniform, universal code for it.
The other perspective is to look at it as suggested by Gautam the Buddha (the enlightened one). He suggests that everyone is this world should be very selfish...but after understanding what his real self interests are. That means introspecting where you stand vis-a-vis the world, what benefits you mostly and how you can generate maximum value for yourself. A little introspection will show that the only way to maximize your interests in the long run is to cooperate with others, take care of others and assist them in their own self development. It has a reciprocal effect on your. The more you give, the more you get. What you give is what you get. This is not just theory, because it happens every moment in everyone's life.
So, from this perspective selfishness is one of the highest virtues one should aim for.

Answer 4

I think this is a very dangerous idea.

If there is anything modern American culture needs less of, its selfishness. We live in a world where tens of thousands of children die everyday from easily preventable diseases. Most people living in the first world could literally save lives by giving small donations to groups like UNICEF and Oxfam. People who preach the idea of selfishness and claim that we have no obligations to save the lives of our fellow humans when we could easily do so are, to but it very mildly, not helping.

If a child is drowning and can be easily saved, a person has the obligation to sacrifice the few minutes and dry clothes it would require to save them. If the child is dying from the efects of malnutrition and can be saved with a similar little amount of sacrifice, we have that obligation too.

What Rand did was take the economic insight developed by Adam Smith that working for one's private goods tends to benefit society as a whole (when that society has a free market) and turn it in to an absolutist moral theory. The idea has a lot of value as a general economic idea (although even here it is not absolute - economists recognize that there are a lot of situations where working selfishly for private goods will make society worse off). It is laughable when made into a moral theory (which Rand does.)

Cynical: What about those who are children? Do we have a moral obligation to help children who need our help? And what about adults who cannot help themselves? Should we allow mentally of physically handicapped people without families to fend for themselves on the streets? Or are these cases where we should be altruistic? Nobody denies that there are some good sides to selfishness. Rand denies that there are any bad sides to selfishness or good sides to altruism. This absolutism is one of the (many) things that undermine her theory.

Answer 5

My understanding is that only by caring about yourself first can you then genuinely care about other people. It's like filling up a cup until it overflows and then spills into other cups. The Bible even says, "You shall love your neighbor AS YOURSELF", meaning thinking of others as much as, not more or less, than you think of yourself. More for yourself just means more for others, if you can keep them balanced.

It's also better to give than to sacrifice. To give is to have the attitude that there is more than enough to go around. But sacrifice comes from an attitude of absolute lack. "There is not enough, so I will do without for the sake of the other." This leads only to resentment, especially when the other cannot pay you back. It's no wonder almost nobody wants to accept insincere charity. But giving works for everybody because all the giver wants from the receiver is that they receive their gift.

EDIT-- Also, some things that are considered unselfish are also selfish. For example, say you see that your brother is drowning so you save him. People will tell you that you are a hero and you are unselfish, but you also did it for yourself. Had your brother drowned you would have cried and been very sad. So in a way you were thinking about yourself too. People should try not to separate thinking of oneself and thinking of others all the time, because they constantly go hand in hand. All people are one.

Answer 6

I find selfishness the opposite of the Christian ideal. When we love others we do things for them, we help them if they ask for help, and we minister to them when they can not ask. However, in this world, selfishness rules the market place, and political strategy, therefore selfishness is a worldly virtue. If one does not believe in a loving God, then the person is of this world, and will acquire the worldly virtue of selfishness. I believe we either honor God, or this world, we can not do both, and survive well. Therefore most do not survive well, because they try to honor both God and this world.

Answer 7

Selfishness is always not a virtue. Because no one can like selfish people. But selfishness in some case is good. For example:- Studies,Business etc.

Answer 8

I think selfishness is a way of life, just as selflessness. Actually both are pretty selfish, since every selfless person acts that way to be true to his self-defined or society-defined morals. That altruism is an ideal is only because it has been propounded by society and makes people who follow it feel good about themselves, through acts of "goodness" which again is being selfless to be selfish. Being outright selfish is more of the same thing, except that we condemn it because it doesn't involve anything good happening for others in society per se, and its goals are not satisfying oneself by helping others, but doing things more directly and honestly. It has to be accepted that every person is indeed selfish. that acts of compassion and courage and such, give its practitioners a sense of self-worth, which is necessary for their way of life. The other "selfish" people need to do different but equally important things from their own point for their self-worth. the definitions, morals and actually deeds are different, the reasons same. so it all depends on perspective, and what helps who.

Answer 9

Let it be a 50:50 sharing. We can be selfish and also virtuous. One answer above refers to a cup being filled and overflowing. I would prefer to keep a watch on the filling, immediately empty it into another cup and start filling again. This effort of my filling my own cup again and again will give me a chance to keep living with selfishness and also share my bounty with others who are in need.

It is time for us to recognise the human values, ethical living, uphold our cultural and traditional virtues and share the worlds wealth in an equitable manner because the world belongs to rich and poor alike. We may prefer to flaunt because we possess it but how long? Till another 9/11 or tsunami hits us?

Golden words of Mahatma Gandhi, the great Indian leader of non-violence movement: ONE HALF OF THE WORLD IS STARVING AND THE OTHER HALF IS DIETING. How true? If only, a quarter of those who are dieting, could spare that much of food/wealth to other "have nots", they can have immense satisfaction of feeding the other starving half of the world. Blessed are those who care to spare and share.

My question: Is it a curse to be born poor?

Answer 10

When someone hears the word "Selfishness", the first thought is that it is an undesirable quality of a human being. I feel that is because of our own selfishness. It is a virtue if you can make it in favour of others. For a common cause one can be selfish. That is to say make it for a National cause. May be for the welfare of your neighbour you can be selfish . For achieving excellence in some field of activity , you can be selfish to an extent. When you show selfishness for the benefit of others surely it is a virtue.