Introduction to Ethics

A woman does not want to donate to charity.

Photo: Vivian Zink / NBC.

Ayn Rand is not impressed by Psychological Egoism: she believes it is obvious that people may behave altruistically. Instead, Rand makes the striking assertion that you should never sacrifice your interests for others. Instead, you should exercise your freedom and focus on achieving your own values and interests. This module explores her account of an Ethical Egoism.

This module has three learning outcomes. At its end, you will be able to…

Explain the elements of Ayn Rand’s theory of Ethical Egoism,
Analyze the soundness of her argument justifying Ethical Egoism, and
Summarize the fundamental challenge to all forms of Ethical Egoism.

Read This:

Atlas Shrugged

Ethical Egoism

Context

Recall that Psychological Egoism is a theory of human motivation claiming that a person primarily acts according to prudence, that is, according to considerations seen as promoting that person’s own interests.

Contrary to this theory, Russian-American writer Ayn Rand (1905–1982) believes that people often do act self-destructively through imprudent decision making. In the selection from her book Atlas Shrugged, she instead defends a different form of egoism.

Ethical Egoism is a theory of morality claiming that a person should always act according to prudence and never altruistically sacrifice their interests for those of another. Like Psychological Egoism, this comes in strong or weak forms:

Strong Ethical Egoism claims that a person, and that person alone, determines their own interests and they cannot ever be wrong about those interests.
Weak Ethical Egoism claims a person must distinguish their true interests from their apparent interests; you should do what you want, but you may be wrong about it.

Unlike Psychological Egoism, Ethical Egoism is a normative theory about moral behavior. Ethical Egoism tells us how people should behave.

Based on what she writes in this speech from Atlas Shrugged (spoken by the character John Galt), Rand defends a very strong theory of Ethical Egoism, arguing that only your own happiness should ever matter to you. Furthermore, she maintains that it is absolutely wrong for you to sacrifice your happiness for other people. Only a fool or a “sucker” would make such a sacrifice; and only “parasites” and “moochers” would expect you to make it. Today, this theory has proved extremely influential amongst certain groups of business leaders and politicians.

James Rachels and Stuart Rachels, however, find the problems with ethical egoism to be more impressive than its strengths. So while they may respect it as a theory worthy of serious consideration, they ultimately reject it as significantly flawed.

Reading Questions

As you read, keep these questions in mind:

What exactly is happiness according to Ayn Rand? (Hint: she seems to provide a definition of happiness in the middle of page 1014.)
What reasons does Ayn Rand give to defend her main claim that you should “accept the fact that the achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life” (1957, p. 1059)? (Hint: James Rachels and Stuart Rachels provide their analysis on pages 75–77.)
Rachels and Rachels present three arguments in favor of ethical egoism. What faults do they find with each of these arguments?
What argument do Rachels and Rachels give that they believe “may refute Ethical Egoism” (2018, p. 79)?

Although I strongly suggest that you write out brief answers to these questions, you do not have to turn in written responses. You do, however, need to be prepared to answer questions like these on module quizzes and the unit exams.