Nalisha Baldeo
Paper #3
The Virtue of Selfishness
Ayn Rand thought that there was something wrong with how American/Western culture and its moral thinking was using the term “selfish” and maybe it need some re-evaluation.
According to Rand selfishness is that each individual man should be the only intended beneficiary of his own thought and action. Her ethics is about the exercise of my mind in the service of my life; my thinking and my effort making of my life something good. Rand saw selfishness as there was no negative judgment to this definition. She argued that there was nothing wrong with someone putting their own needs and wants as a first priority. Rand argued that if a person is selfish, they can have the self-esteem and self-empowerment …show more content…
The beneficiary of an action is the only criterion of moral value and as long that beneficiary is anybody other than oneself, anything goes. She is claiming that altruism has an ethical principle of helping others and from that point of view any selfish action is immoral. “Altruism,” according to Rand, means “the placing of others above self, of their interests above one’s own.” Standard dictionary definitions of “altruism,” such as “unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others.” But Rand departed completely from conventional wisdom in identifying altruism as a spiteful principle that is mismatched with individual rights and a free …show more content…
Darwin theory is mentioning to show that people act selfish in order to survive and propagate. The example about Bill Gate,” In recent years, Bill Gates has channeled billions of his dollars to a foundation devoted to fighting disease and poverty. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation may today be the single-most-powerful force in the world for the relief of suffering. But what, one might ask, is in it for Bill?” this shows that the person is really following the selfish orders of his own genes. Yes it may looks like he doing charity but in return he was gaining a good name which was benefitting him. People always do things or help others in order to benefit or gain something. Then four believable Darwinian reasons for altruism was mention: first was making sacrifices for own biological family, second was you help me and I will help you, third was people help people because it gives them a warm glow and a pleasure of feeling good and forth is having a reputation for generosity. There four reasons shows that people only do favors for others unless they gaining something out of it or because its
Paper #3
The Virtue of Selfishness
Ayn Rand thought that there was something wrong with how American/Western culture and its moral thinking was using the term “selfish” and maybe it need some re-evaluation.
According to Rand selfishness is that each individual man should be the only intended beneficiary of his own thought and action. Her ethics is about the exercise of my mind in the service of my life; my thinking and my effort making of my life something good. Rand saw selfishness as there was no negative judgment to this definition. She argued that there was nothing wrong with someone putting their own needs and wants as a first priority. Rand argued that if a person is selfish, they can have the self-esteem and self-empowerment …show more content…
The beneficiary of an action is the only criterion of moral value and as long that beneficiary is anybody other than oneself, anything goes. She is claiming that altruism has an ethical principle of helping others and from that point of view any selfish action is immoral. “Altruism,” according to Rand, means “the placing of others above self, of their interests above one’s own.” Standard dictionary definitions of “altruism,” such as “unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others.” But Rand departed completely from conventional wisdom in identifying altruism as a spiteful principle that is mismatched with individual rights and a free …show more content…
Darwin theory is mentioning to show that people act selfish in order to survive and propagate. The example about Bill Gate,” In recent years, Bill Gates has channeled billions of his dollars to a foundation devoted to fighting disease and poverty. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation may today be the single-most-powerful force in the world for the relief of suffering. But what, one might ask, is in it for Bill?” this shows that the person is really following the selfish orders of his own genes. Yes it may looks like he doing charity but in return he was gaining a good name which was benefitting him. People always do things or help others in order to benefit or gain something. Then four believable Darwinian reasons for altruism was mention: first was making sacrifices for own biological family, second was you help me and I will help you, third was people help people because it gives them a warm glow and a pleasure of feeling good and forth is having a reputation for generosity. There four reasons shows that people only do favors for others unless they gaining something out of it or because its