Objectivists do not despise charity, they simply despise the idea of self-sacrifice as a virtue. The real virtue is seeking out mutually beneficial arrangements. If a company assists with rebuilding efforts, they should seek advertising in doing so. If you help out a neighbor, you should receive their gratitude, or expect help in the future. Doesn't that make more sense than doing things for nothing? Doesn't the receipt of mutual benefit, recognition and/or gratitude compel charity more than a tax deduction? Isn't the ideal of uplifting both parties more virtuous than the "ideal" of one sacrificing their self for another? Self-sacrifice comes from the same idea as Original Sin: The idea that the Self is evil, and that selfishness is sinful. Objectivism embraces rational selfishness, seeing virtue where others see sin. After all, self-sacrifice is the belief that the self exists for the purpose of its own destruction. Isn't that contrary to the entire goal of life: Self-preservation? Isn't that against the instinct of every living creature on earth? Why should anyone believe that self-destruction is a virtue, when everything else on earth exists to live and thrive? Metaphysics: Fun stuff!
Objectivist
Metaphysics
Objectivism
Ayn
Rand
Altruism
Self
Sacrifice
Sin
Charity
Philosophy
Virtue
Of
Atheist
Undergrad
