{"title":"Eudaimon in the Rough: Perfecting Rand's Egoism","authors":"Roger E. Bissell","doi":"10.5325/jaynrandstud.20.2.0452","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"abstract:The author argues that Rand's ethical theory is much closer in essence to the eudaimonist, self-perfectionist perspectives of Aristotle and the neo-Aristotelians, Douglas Den Uyl and Douglas Rasmussen, than to the \"selfish,\" egoistic ethics many assume to be her basic position. He discusses Rand's anti-hedonist and pro-rational selfishness positions as corollaries of man's life as the standard of moral value, as well as Rand's point that treating either happiness or personal benefit as the standard of moral value is a reversal of cause and effect. He also identifies the oppressive negativism in Rand's discussion of the seven canonical Objectivist virtues.","PeriodicalId":35149,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies","volume":"20 1","pages":"452 - 478"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2020-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"3","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.5325/jaynrandstud.20.2.0452","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"Arts and Humanities","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 3
Abstract
abstract:The author argues that Rand's ethical theory is much closer in essence to the eudaimonist, self-perfectionist perspectives of Aristotle and the neo-Aristotelians, Douglas Den Uyl and Douglas Rasmussen, than to the "selfish," egoistic ethics many assume to be her basic position. He discusses Rand's anti-hedonist and pro-rational selfishness positions as corollaries of man's life as the standard of moral value, as well as Rand's point that treating either happiness or personal benefit as the standard of moral value is a reversal of cause and effect. He also identifies the oppressive negativism in Rand's discussion of the seven canonical Objectivist virtues.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies Foundation has entered into an electronic licensing relationship with EBSCO Publishing, the world"s most prolific aggregator of full-text journals, magazines, and other sources. The full text of The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies can be found on EBSCO Publishing"s databases. A nonpartisan journal devoted to the study of Ayn Rand and her times. The journal is not aligned with any advocacy group, institute, or person. It welcomes papers from every discipline and from a variety of interpretive and critical perspectives. It aims to foster scholarly dialogue through a respectful exchange of ideas. The journal is published semi-annually, in the fall and the spring.