Welcome to the second post in our Sententia Discussion series! Please engage in the discussion below the post. For a reminder of what the Sententia Discussion series is, and how it’s supposed to work, see this post. Remember, discussion topics will be posted on the second and fourth Sunday of each month.
Background
Ayn Rand suggests that we are fundamentally selfish creatures, and that such selfishness is not a bad thing (we touched briefly on this in our Pride post). Her philosophy of objectivism argues that even an act of apparent charity is at its core a selfish act, a moral transaction of sorts – the recompense you receive for your “selfless” act on another’s behalf is the sense of satisfaction or boost in reputation which you experience as a result.
Prompt
Consider your own “selfless” acts, and whether they are truly selfless, or might fall under this idea of selfish selflessness.
What does this mean for our common connotation of selfishness as a negative?
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