THE VIRTUE OF SELFISHNESS

AUTHOR: AYN RAND

ORIGINAL LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

“The Virtue of Selfishness” begins with these lines in its introduction

The title of this book may evoke the kind of question that I hear once in a while: “Why do you use the word ‘selfishness’ to denote virtuous qualities of character when that word antagonizes so many people to whom it does not mean the things you mean?” 
To those who ask it, my answer is: “For the reason that makes you afraid of it.”

Ayn Rand wrote those lines and this book is not about selfishness in the conventional way “we” use or think about the word— selfishness. I must agree that we as humans have a high judgmental tendency to form and adapt things according to "us" that is our way of looking at things, perceiving them and applying them and in a similar vein, we applied this to language and thus I believe the word "selfishness" became an antagonizing word.

We live in a world where we love labels. A girl and boy cannot be together without being labeled as "couple" yeah they either have to be boyfriend-girlfriend or get married, without which the world is confused. The society is actually like a kid who is shown a fruit and if the fruit is not given a name, then he is confused. So we got to be labeled "single" or "married", "Hindu" or "Christian" or some other religion or even "atheist". Yeah, the world loves labels and when someone questions the existence of labels the world freaks out. Thus, when the book is named as "VIRTUE OF SELFISHNESS" I heard many people asking me the question why I am reading it in the first place and some suggested I should keep myself away from such demeaning thought process and for that very reason, I read the book. 

I am recently hearing a lot of religious factions propagating their own things and in all ways and means, I am afraid that I do not seek nor heed to the conventional thinking of practicing idol worship or any symbolism per say. Although, I do perform some minimal rituals I do not do them for any ritualistic orgasm more so for the people who feel happy when they get to know I do it. So I am "selfish" but not "selfless" as per my ethics, my happiness lies in others happiness and not in any ritual. So there lies the answer to the need for ethics. 

The book began wonderfully with the chapter "The Objectivist Ethics" and explains why ethics are an objective necessity against a subjective luxury. 

I quote from the book 

The avowed mystics held the arbitrary, unaccountable “will of God” as the standard of the good and as the validation of their ethics. The neo-mystics replaced it with “the good of society,” thus collapsing into the circularity of a definition such as “the standard of the good is that which is good for society.”

Also, I subscribe totally to this paragraph

It is not men’s immorality that is responsible for the collapse now threatening to destroy the civilized world, but the kind of moralities men have been asked to practice. The responsibility belongs to the philosophers of altruism. They have no cause to be shocked by the spectacle of their own success, and no right to damn human nature: men have obeyed them and have brought their moral ideals into full reality.

So, the world that we live in is filled with the terrorist of all sorts and they are not amoral but their morals are different and challenging and the responsibility lies with the philosophers than the executors of the acts. 
Thus, I believe this book although written in 1964 resonates even today and I firmly believe that Rand's philosophy is applicable to the current times.

In the next chapter that is "Mental Health versus Mysticism and Self-Sacrifice" that is written by Nathaniel Branden, he totally condemns the thought of self-sacrifice. When a mom says "I sacrifice my time to get my kid ready", then the question that triggers is does she want to be a mom who readies her kid or is she forced to do so?

From the book, I quote 

Do mystics declare that all they demand of man is that he sacrifices his happiness? To sacrifice one’s happiness is to sacrifice one’s desires; to sacrifice one’s desires is to sacrifice one’s values; to sacrifice one’s values is to sacrifice one’s judgment; to sacrifice one’s judgment is to sacrifice one’s mind—and it is nothing less than this that the creed of self-sacrifice aims at and demands.

Okay now I will stop quoting from the book, I already gave away 3 paragraphs and giving away anything more would not do justice for a book that is worth not just buying and reading but also keeping and referring frequently.

Ayn Rand is ruthless is making her point from start to end. She never gets carried away from the context and makes her point firmly and that is what is amazing about this book. Never did I feel out of place or context. 

The essays “Psychology of Pleasure”, “Man’s rights” are sheer genius. Although the former was by Nathaniel Branden and the latter was by Ayn Rand herself, they are extremely well written. Every essay has its coveted place and overall flow of the book is terrific.

Despite the bluntness, if read with a rational mind, this book would be acceptable and will be appreciated as one of the finest books on philosophy and selfishness along with Rand’s another book “Philosophy: Who Needs It”

She is one of the best writers of the 20th century and by far the most influential in my life. 


A 5/5 for this wonderful book.

My review of "Philosophy: Who Needs It"

https://braddugg.blogspot.in/2017/09/philosophy-who-needs-it.html