Altruism And Egoism In Anthem, By Ayn Rand

In popular culture, an altruistic person is connoted with being a genuine individual that plays as a role model for others, but an egotistic person is synonymous with an evil beast that squashes over anything to attain his own end. However, the views of Ayn Rand heavily collide with these mainstream perceptions of Altruism and Egoism. Rand believes that the basic principle of altruism "is that man has no right to exist for his own sake, his service to others is the only justification of his existence, and that self-sacrifice is his highest moral duty, virtue and value."(1) Thus, she conceptualizes altruism as an ethical dilemma for the person whom sacrifice is demanded. Furthermore, she delineates egoism as the theory, which holds that "it

Keating is a sheep—he cannot pave the path to his own future, rather everything he does in his life is influenced by an external factor. For instance, He becomes an architect— though he preferred becoming a painter—because his mother says that, a painter has no value in society. He gets married to Dominique—though he truly only loves Catherine—because Dominique is his trophy wife; she makes him appear to be a great man. "In all the important decisions of his life, Keating gives up his own values because other people disapprove of them. Keating lacks the strength of character necessary to stand on his own judgment."(Sparknotes) Alongside Catherine Halsey, Keating is one of Toohey's pawns. In book two, after the opening ceremony of the Cosmo-Slotnick Building, Keating discusses with Toohey about his love for Dominique. Toohey than says, "Sexual love, peter, is a profoundly selfish emotion. Moreover, selfish emotions are not the ones that lead to happiness. Are they?"(pg. 321) Peter than reluctantly whispers, "that's true." Without analyzing the words of Toohey, Keating immediately entrapped himself within the self-less ideas of