The Virtue of Selfishness

1964 book by Ayn Rand

The Virtue of Selfishness

Cover of the 1964 Signet Books edition

Author| Ayn Rand
Language| English
Subject| Ethics
Publisher| New American Library

Publication date

| 1964
Publication place| United States
Media type| Print
Pages| 173 (Centennial edition)
ISBN| 0-451-16393-1 (Centennial edition)
OCLC| 183461

The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism is a 1964 collection of essays by the philosopher Ayn Rand and the writer Nathaniel Branden. Most of the essays originally appeared in The Objectivist Newsletter. The book covers ethical issues from the perspective of Rand's Objectivist philosophy. Some of its themes include the identification and validation of egoism as a rational code of ethics, the destructiveness of altruism, and the nature of a proper government.

## Summary

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The book contains 19 essays, 14 of them written by Rand and five by Branden, plus an introduction written by Rand. All but one of the essays had previously been published in The Objectivist Newsletter, a magazine that Rand and Branden had launched in 1962. The exception was the book's first essay, "The Objectivist Ethics", which was a paper Rand delivered at the University of Wisconsin during a symposium on "Ethics in Our Time".[1] "The Objectivist Ethics" explains the foundations of Rand's ethical theory. Her other essays engage a variety of ethical topics, often challenging common perspectives on such issues as compromise and moral judgment. Branden's essays, such as "Counterfeit Individualism" and "The Psychology of Pleasure", present a more psychology-focused view of morality.[2]

## Use of selfishness

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Rand's characterization of selfishness as a virtue, including in the title of the book, is one of its most controversial elements. Philosopher Chandran Kukathas said Rand's position on this point "brought notoriety, but kept her out of the intellectual mainstream".[3] Rand acknowledged in the book's introduction that the term "selfishness" was not typically used to describe virtuous behavior but insisted that her usage was consistent with a more precise meaning of the term as simply "concern with one's own interests". Rand said that the equation of selfishness with evil had caused "the arrested moral development of mankind" and needed to be rejected.[4]

Critics have disputed Rand's interpretation of the term. Libertarian feminist writer Sharon Presley described Rand's use of selfishness as "perversely idiosyncratic" and contrary to the dictionary meaning of the term, Rand's claims to the contrary notwithstanding. Presley believed the use of the term caused Rand's arguments to be frequently mischaracterized.[5] Philosophy professor Max Hocutt dismissed the phrase "the virtue of selfishness" as "rhetorical excess", saying that "without qualification and explanation, it is too paradoxical to merit serious discussion".[6] In contrast, philosophers Douglas J. Den Uyl and Douglas B. Rasmussen described Rand's response to the question of why she uses the term as "neither antagonistic nor defensive, but rather profound".[7] Philosopher Chris Matthew Sciabarra said it is "debatable" whether Rand accurately described the meaning of the term but argued that Rand's philosophical position required altering the conventional meanings of some terms in order to express her views without inventing entirely new words.[8] Philosophy professor Stephen Hicks wrote in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy that Rand's "provocative title" was matched by "an equally provocative thesis about ethics".[9]

## Publication history

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Rand in 1957

The idea of creating a collection of Rand's essays initially came from Bennett Cerf of Random House, who had published two of Rand's previous books, Atlas Shrugged and For the New Intellectual. Rand proposed a collection of articles to be titled The Fascist New Frontier, after a Ford Hall Forum speech she had given criticizing the views of President John F. Kennedy. Uncomfortable with Rand's comparison of Kennedy to Adolf Hitler, Cerf asked that Rand choose a different title essay. She rejected this request and dropped Random House, as well as ending her friendship with Cerf, choosing New American Library as the publisher for her new book. The Virtue of Selfishness bore a different title and did not include her piece on Kennedy; he had been assassinated before it was released, making the point of the essay moot.[10]

## Reception

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The book became one of Rand's strongest-selling works of nonfiction, selling over 400,000 copies in the first four months of its release,[11] and over 1.35 million copies by 2014.[12] Rand scholar Mimi Reisel Gladstein described the collection of essays as "eclectic" and "appealing to interested nonacademic or nonspecialist readers as well as to the more serious student of Objectivism".[13] Gladstein reported that a number of contemporary reviews compared Rand's views to existentialism.[14]

In his book Winning Through Intimidation, self-help author Robert J. Ringer said The Virtue of Selfishness is Rand's "masterpiece".[15] In a public appearance, writer Christopher Hitchens said, "Though I have some respect for The Virtue of Selfishness, a collection of essays ... I don't think there's any need to have essays advocating selfishness among human beings. I don't know what your impression has been, but some things require no further reinforcement."[16]

## References

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1. ^ Gladstein 1999, p. 80; Burns 2009, p. 211
2. ^ Gladstein 1999, pp. 80–81
3. ^ Kukathas 1998, p. 55
4. ^ Rand, Ayn. "Introduction". In Rand 1964, pp. vii–ix
5. ^ Presley, Sharon. "Ayn Rand's Philosophy of Individualism: A Feminist Psychologist's Perspective". In Gladstein & Sciabarra 1999, pp. 265–266
6. ^ Hocutt 2008, p. 440
7. ^ Den Uyl, Douglas J. and Rasmussen, Douglas B. "Life, Teleology, and Eudaimonia in the Ethics of Ayn Rand". In Den Uyl & Rasmussen 1986, p. 76
8. ^ Sciabarra 1995, p. 252
9. ^ Hicks, Stephen R. C. (July 7, 2005). "Ayn Rand (1905–1982)". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved February 17, 2011.
10. ^ Burns 2009, pp. 210–211; Heller 2009, pp. 335–337
11. ^ Gladstein 1999, p. 81; Burns 2009, p. 212
12. ^ Bowden, Tom (June 23, 2014). "50 Years of the Virtue of Selfishness". Ayn Rand Institute. Retrieved July 6, 2014.
13. ^ Gladstein 1999, p. 81
14. ^ Gladstein 1999, p. 119
15. ^ Ringer, Robert J. (1974). Winning Through Intimidation. Los Angeles Book Publishers. p. vii. ISBN 0-308-10229-0.
16. ^ "Hitchens Destroys the Cult of Ayn Rand (mirror)". YouTube. Retrieved January 17, 2021.

### Works cited

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* Burns, Jennifer (2009). Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-532487-7.
* Den Uyl, Douglas & Rasmussen, Douglas, eds. (1986) [1984]. The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand (paperback ed.). Chicago: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-01407-3.
* Gladstein, Mimi Reisel (1999). The New Ayn Rand Companion. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-30321-5.
* Gladstein, Mimi Reisel & Sciabarra, Chris Matthew, eds. (1999). Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand. Re-reading the Canon. University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 0-271-01830-5.
* Heller, Anne C. (2009). Ayn Rand and the World She Made. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-51399-9.
* Hocutt, Max (Winter 2008). "In Defense of Herbert Spencer" (PDF). The Independent Review. 12 (3): 433–445.433-445&rft.date=2008&rft.aulast=Hocutt&rft.aufirst=Max&rft_id=http://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_12_03_05_hocutt.pdf&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:The+Virtue+of+Selfishness" class="Z3988">
* Kukathas, Chandran (1998). "Rand, Ayn (1905–82)". In Craig, Edward (ed.). Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Vol. 8\. New York: Routledge. pp. 55–56\. ISBN 0-415-07310-3.55-56&rft.pub=Routledge&rft.date=1998&rft.isbn=0-415-07310-3&rft.aulast=Kukathas&rft.aufirst=Chandran&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:The+Virtue+of+Selfishness" class="Z3988">
* Rand, Ayn (1964). The Virtue of Selfishness. New York: New American Library. ISBN 0-451-16393-1. OCLC 28103453.
* Sciabarra, Chris Matthew (1995). Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical. University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 0-271-01440-7.

## External links

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Wikiquote has quotations related to Nathaniel Branden § "Mental Health versus Mysticism and Self-Sacrifice".

* v
* t
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Ayn Rand

Bibliography|

| Novels|

* We the Living (1936)
* Anthem (1938)
* The Fountainhead (1943)
* Atlas Shrugged (1957)
* Ideal (2015)

|

Nonfiction books|

* For the New Intellectual (1961)
* Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology (1979)
* The Art of Fiction (2000)

Collected essays|

* The Virtue of Selfishness (1964)
* Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal (1966)
* The Romantic Manifesto (1969)
* The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution (1971)
* Philosophy: Who Needs It (1982)

Screenplays|

* Red Pawn (1932)
* Love Letters (1945)
* You Came Along (1945)
* The Fountainhead (1949)

Stage plays|

* Night of January 16th (1934)
* Ideal (1934)
* The Unconquered (1940)

Other writings|

* The Early Ayn Rand (1984)
* Letters of Ayn Rand (1995)
* Journals of Ayn Rand (1997)

Characters|

* Liberty 5-3000
* List of Atlas Shrugged characters
* John Galt

Adaptations|

| Screen|

* The Night of January 16th (1941)
* We the Living (1942)
* The Fountainhead (1949)
* Gawaahi (1989)
* Atlas Shrugged (film series): Part I (2011), Part II (2012), Part III (2014)

|

Stage|

* The Unconquered (1940)
* The Fountainhead (2014)

Philosophy|

* Objectivism
* Objectivism and libertarianism
* Objectivism and homosexuality
* Randian hero

Influence|

* The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies
* Ayn Rand Institute
* Objectivist movement
* Objectivist periodicals

Depictions|

* Ayn Rand and the World She Made
* Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life
* Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical
* The Ayn Rand Cult
* Goddess of the Market
* Judgment Day
* The Passion of Ayn Rand (book)
* The Passion of Ayn Rand (film)
* Who Is Ayn Rand?

* v
* t
* e

Books by Nathaniel Branden

As sole author|

* The Psychology of Self-Esteem (1969)
* Breaking Free (1970)
* The Disowned Self (1971)
* The Psychology of Romantic Love (1980)
* Honoring the Self (1983)
* How To Raise Your Self-Esteem (1987)
* Judgment Day: My Years with Ayn Rand (1989)
* The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem (1994)
* Taking Responsibility (1996)
* The Art of Living Consciously (1997)
* My Years with Ayn Rand (1999)

As co-author/contributor|

* Who Is Ayn Rand? (with Barbara Branden) (1962)
* The Virtue of Selfishness (with Ayn Rand) (1964)
* Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal (with Ayn Rand) (1966)

Related subjects|

* Nathaniel Branden Institute
* Objectivism
* Objectivist movement

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