Abstract

This article is a reply to Marsha Enright's essay “The Problem with Selfishness.” Enright argues that “selfishness” is not the correct designation for living according to the Objectivist ethics. This article defends Rand's use of “selfishness,” on three grounds. First, the self is central to Rand's ethics, because a person must value his self before he can value anything or anyone. Second, immoral people are selfless, because organisms that function at the perceptual level of awareness do not have a self. Third, Rand has identified the exact meaning of “selfishness,” whether or not her definition accords with dictionary definitions.