Ayn Rand, Aristotle and selfishness Selfishness is an act that human beings have innate in them. Ayn Rand, being a rational egoist, had many moral beliefs, one of which was especially about selfishness. He believed that: “Self-interest, properly understood, is the standard of morality, and altruism is the deepest immorality.” (Ayn Rand 279) This basically emphasizes that you should see yourself, as an end in yourself. A person's life and happiness are his highest values, and he does not exist as a servant or slave to the interests of others. Likewise, others also do not exist as servants or slaves to their own interests. The life and happiness of every person is his or her crucial goal. Ayn Rand, Aristotle, and Frederick Nietzsche all had theories behind this, that humans are innately selfish. Thrown out society today, all human beings are selfish and it is proven by these philosophers that it has developed naturally and there is no cure to prevent it. Ayn Rand, a great Russian philosopher, once asked why one should not be selfish. Ayn Rand answered this question with her theory which she called objectivist ethics. This theory states that humans are innately selfish. “Everyone does what they really want, otherwise they wouldn't do it.” (Ayn rand 66) Rand believed that humans were rational beings and supported the idea that rational people will help others if they get something in return. This idea is voluntary cooperation, which applies to relations with commerce and justice. It also applies to human relationships. In developing his theory he criticized the ethic of altruism, according to which people should act out of selfish concern for others. Ayn Rand states in her book entitled “The Virtue of Selfishness” that the correct method of judging when one should help another person is by referring to one's own rational self-interest and one's own hierarchy of values. Ayn Rand followed Aristotle's view. However, unlike Aristotle, he focused on an individual other than a community. “There is no such thing as 'society'…only individual men” (Ayn Rand 279) Ayn Rand followed her acknowledged great teacher Aristotle. He changed his view slightly different from Aristotle which was to focus on an individual rather than focusing on an entire community. Aristotle believed that one's life is the only life one must live for. Aristotle also stated that “good” is what is objectively good for a given man.