s is acting ``selfishly;'' she held that these activitiesin fact are not values-that they do not lead to a happy life. Rand listed a number of important values-productivity, honesty, pride-that make up the good life. An important one in understanding that selfishnessdoes not involve preying on others is independence. Independence has two aspects. The first is mental: you must think foryourself, you must come to your own conclusions, and you must follow thoseconclusions into action. You must never subordinate your own grasp of reality toanything: society, peers, tradition, authority. Howard Roark, the hero of TheFountainhead, is the symbol of this. The second aspect of independence is existential: you must embrace thelaw of causality in your own life. You must take responsibility for your actions,which means: you must take the responsibility for achieving your own life andfor all the actions you take in doing so. This is a two-way street: you getcredit for the good you do and get to keep the benefits, and you get blamed forthe bad and are expected to accept the consequences. It is this noble concept of independence-the man who thinks for himselfand acts for himself and holds himself accountable for what he does-that Randheld as the truly selfish life. A final point about Rand's egoism is that it rejects the need forsacrifice. Traditionally we've been given the choice of living for others (whichis altruism) or expecting others to live for us (which is called``selfishness''). Rand identified a third alternative: let each man live for hisown sake, neither ``sacrificing himself to others nor others to himself.'' Randheld that if (and only if) people act morally and selfishly as she defined it,there is a harmony of interests among men that makes peace, benevolence, and,ultimately, general prosperity possible....
