IS SELFISHNESS GOOD OR BAD?
Selfishness is the attitude of being concerned with ones own interest than the interest of others.
In my point of view I think selfishness is conditional in the sense that sometimes you have to keep everything to yourself to feel secured and maybe for your personal reasons. People tend to be selfish in a sense that they want everything for themselves and do not seek the progress of others. People help others only when they have some economic gain or have some indirect benefits for themselves. Selfishness can be either good or bad based on situations and conditions and sometimes based on individual thoughts, backgrounds and values. Sometimes you have to ignore friends, let go of emotions or play dirty if u want to get to the top. People will interpretate this sudden change or twist in behaviour as selfishness because you want everything all for yourself but that might not be your reasons for acting morose,distant or ignorant. i remember way back high school, we organized some external Science Quiz with the grand prize being an intel core i7 laptop.It was the very first time realizing that something like a laptop exist. iloved it so much and was vying to win it. I spent weeks learning just to win this amazing laptop. On the very day we had the exam, i was really comfortable because the questions were familiar and somehow easy to answer. A friend of mine that i know is really good had troubles answering some questions and pleaded for my help which i turned him down. It was such a harsh thing for me to do but i had no choice because i wanted the laptop so bad that i felt that if i teach this friend of mine he might eventually win the competition. The results were published and hopefully i won the competition but i was not happy because i new i have been selfish. From that moment to now this good friend of mine and i have become enemies.
What does Ayn Rand mean when she describes selfishness as a virtue?
Ayn Rand rejects altruism, the view that self-sacrifice is the moral ideal. She argues that the ultimate moral value, for each human individual, is his or her own well-being. Since selfishness (as she understands it) is serious, rational, principled concern with one's own well-being, it turns out to be a prerequisite for the attainment of the ultimate moral value. For this reason, Rand believes that selfishness is a virtue.