The Virtue of Selfishness

by Ayn Rand

I quote from Galt’s speech: “There is only one fundamental alternative in the universe: existence or nonexistence—and it pertains to a single class of entities: to living organisms. The existence of inanimate matter is unconditional, the existence of life is not: it depends on a specific course of action. Matter is indestructible, it changes its forms, but it cannot cease to exist. It is only a living organism that faces a constant alternative: the issue of life or death. Life is a process of self-sustaining and self-generated action. If an organism fails in that action, it dies; its chemical elements remain, but its life g...

for

against

living

self-generated, goal-directed action.

On the physical level, the functions of all living organisms, from the simplest to the most complex—from the nutritive function in the single cell of an amoeba to the blood circulation in the body of a man—are actions generated by the organism itself and directed to a single goal: the maintenance of the organism’s life. 2 An organism’s life depends on two factors: the material or fuel which it needs from the outside, from its physical background, and the action of its own body, the action of using that fuel properly. What standard determines what is proper in this context? The standard is the organism’s life, or: that which is required for the organism’s survival.

No choice is open to an organism in this issue: that which is required for its survival is determined by its nature, by the kind of entity it is.

Nature

Many variations, many forms of adaptation to its background are possible to an organism, including the possibility of existing for a while in a crippled, disabled or diseased condition, but the fundamental alternative of its existence remains the same: if an organism fails in the basic functions required by its nature—if an amoeba’s protoplasm stops assimilating food, or if a man’s heart stops beating—the organism dies. In a fundamental sense, stillness is the antithesis of life.

Life can be kept in existence only by a constant process of sel...

The goal of that action, the ultimate value which, to be kept, must be gained through its every moment, is the organism’s life.

The goalcf of action.

An ultimate value is that final goal or end to which all lesser goals are the means—and it sets the standard by which all lesser goals are evaluated.

An organism’s life is its standard of value: that which furthers its life is the good, that whi...

Without an ultimate goal or end, there can be no lesser goals or means: a series of means going off into an infinite progression toward a nonexistent end is a metaphysical and epistemological impossibility.

Without the ultimate goal.

It is only an ultimate goal, an end in itself, that makes the existence of values possible.

Metaphysically, life is the only phenomenon that is an end in itself: a value gained and kept by ...

“life.”

“value”

“It is only the concept of ‘Life’ that makes the concept of...

In answer to those philosophers who claim that no relation can be established between ultimate ends or values and the facts of reality, let me stress that the fact that living entities exist and function necessitates the existence of values and of a...

So much for the issue of the relation between “is” and “ought.”

Now in what manner does a human being discover the concept of “value”?

By what means does he first become aware of the issue of “good or evil”...

pleasure o...

cognition,

evaluation.

nature,

He has no choice about it, and he has no choice about the standard that determines what will make him experience the physical sensation of pleasure or of pain.

What is that s...

His ...

right

The physical sensation of pain is a warning signal of danger, indicating that the organism is pursuing the wrong course of action, that something is impairing the proper function of its body, which requires action to correct it.

The best illustration of this can be seen in the rare, freak cases of children who are born without the capacity to experience physical pain; such children do not survive for long; they have no means of discovering what can injure them, no warning signals, and thus a minor cut can develop into a deadly infe...

Consciousness—for those living organisms which possess it—is the bas...

The simpler organisms, such as plants, can survive by means of their automa...

The higher organisms, such as animals and man, cannot: their needs are more complex and the rang...

The physical functions of their bodies can perform automatically only the task of using fuel, ...

To obtain it, the higher organisms need the faculty of consciousness. A plant can obtain its food from the soil in which it grows. An animal ha...

A plant has no choice of action; the goals it pursues are automatic and innate, determined by its nature. Nourishment, water, sunlight are th...

But whatever the conditions, there is no alternative in a plant’s function: it acts automatically to further its life, it cannot act for its own destruction.

The range of actions required for the survival of the higher organisms is wider: it is proportionate to the range of their consciousness. The lower of the conscious species possess only the faculty of sensation, which is sufficient to direct their actions and provide for their needs.

A sensation is produced by the automatic reaction of a sense organ to a stimulus from the outside world; it lasts for the duration of the immediate moment, a...

Sensations are an automatic response, an automatic form of knowledge, which a consciousness ...

the pleasure-pain mechanism of its body, that is: by an automatic knowledge and an ...

Within the range of action possible to it, it acts automatically to further its life and cannot ...

The higher organisms possess a much more potent form of consciousness: they possess the faculty of retaining sensations, ...

entities,

percepts.

perceptual

certain skills

And an animal has no choice in the standard of value directing its actions: its senses provide it with an automatic code of values, an automatic knowledge of what is good for it or evil, what benefits or endangers its life. An animal has no power to extend its knowledge or to evade it.