Rational Selfishness

A key point of Objectivist Ethics became clear to me today. There is a crucial difference between acting selfishly and doing what you feel like. Acting selfishly, in its true and proper sense, means acting in your rational self interest according to your objective nature as man - a rational being. As man you have certain objective requirements: physical requirements like food, water and shelter; but also spiritual requirements like self esteem. Doing what you feel like may or may not promote your rational self interest. For example, you might feel like sleeping in, but if by doing so you arrive late to work and lose your job, you are not acting selfishly. This is an important distinction: the fact that you choose a particular action does not make it selfish; an action is only selfish if it is in your rational self interest.

According to Objectivist Ethics, to be moral is to be selfish. I know this is a difficult idea to swallow, so let's consider a case study. Is a bank robber selfish? A bank robber acts to satisfy his physical requirements for food, water, shelter and higher level amenities, but in the process he betrays his spiritual requirement for self esteem. He must live with the knowledge that he did not earn his posessions and can take no selfish pride in these things. Further, he is under the constant fear of being caught; every other person on the planet is now a potential threat who may turn him in. This is no way for a human being to live. It is clear that the bank robber did not act in his rational self interest. He did not act selfishly.

In contrast, consider the businessman who by his own effort and determination is able to bring a product to market and earn a profit for himself. He can take pride in his achievement and enjoy the fruit of his labors. He has promoted both his physical and spiritual needs. He has acted selfishly and morally.

The dominant morality of our day is altruism. According to altruism, an action is moral if it serves others. The bankruptcy of altruism is exposed by its inability to draw a moral distinction between the businessman and the bank robber. The same word, "selfish", is commonly applied to describe the actions of both. It is a sad commentary that our language does not draw a clear distinction between rational egoism and exploitation.