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THE EDUCATION OF AYN RAND, 1905–1943
To effect this transvaluation of values Rand had to carefully redefi
ne selfi shness itself. Egoism or selfi shness typically described one who
“puts oneself above all and crushes everything in one’s way to get the
best for oneself,” she wrote. “Fine!” But this understanding was missing
something critical. The important element, ethically speaking, was “not
what one does or how one does it, but why one does it.” 6 Selfi shness
was a matter of motivation, not outcome. Therefore anyone who sought
power for power’s sake was not truly selfi sh. Like Rand’s neighbor, the
stereotypical egoist was seeking a goal defi ned by others, living as “they
want him to live and conquer to the extent of a home, a yacht and a full
stomach.” By contrast, a true egoist, in Rand’s sense of the term, would
put “his own ‘I,’ his standard of values, above all things, and [conquer]
to live as he pleases, as he chooses and as he believes.” Nor would a truly
selfi sh person seek to dominate others, for that would mean living for
others, adjusting his values and standards to maintain his superiority.
Instead, “an egoist is a man who lives for himself.” 7
What sounded simple was in fact a subtle, complicated, and potentially
confusing system. Rand’s novel reversed traditional defi nitions of
selfi shness and egoism, in itself an ambitious and diffi cult goal. It also
redefi ned the meaning and purpose of morality by excluding all social
concerns. “A man has a code of ethics primarily for his own sake, not
for anyone else’s,” Rand asserted. 8 Her ideas also reversed traditional
understandings of human behavior by exalting a psychological mindset
utterly divorced from anything outside the self.
As Rand described Howard Roark, she reverted to her earlier celebration
of the pathological Hickman from “The Little Street,” again mixing
in strong scorn for emotions. “He was born without the ability to consider
others,” she wrote of Roark. “His emotions are entirely controlled
by his logic . . . he does not suffer, because he does not believe in suffering.”
She also relied liberally on Nietzsche to characterize Roark. As she
jotted down notes on Roark’s personality she told herself, “See Nietzsche
about laughter.” 9 The book’s famous fi rst line indicates the centrality of
this connection: “Howard Roark laughed.”
Like Nietzsche, Rand intended to challenge Christianity. She shared
the philosopher’s belief that Christian ethics were destructive to
selfhood, making life “fl at, gray, empty, lacking all beauty, all fi re, all
enthusiasm, all meaning, all creative urge.” She also had a more specifi c
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