In Defense of Selfishness [Video]

Selfishness is typically associated with amoral, predatory behavior. It’s a word used to describe people like Bernard Madoff or Attila the Hun. Selflessness or altruism is by contrast generally celebrated and aligned with friendship and love. In this talk, Peter Schwartz, ARI Distinguished Fellow, offers a radically different view of selfishness and altruism.

Schwartz argues that the rational egoist is committed to moral principles and lives an honest, productive and self-respecting life. He refutes the ethics of self-sacrifice and shows that friendship and love are acts, not of self-sacrifice, but of self-interest. This talk, further, explains why you have a moral right to exist for your own sake, rather than a moral duty to serve the needs of others.

Recorded at the Hilton Orange County/Costa Mesa in Costa Mesa, California, on June 17, 2015.

Previous talks in this series:

Image: rdonar via Shutterstock.com