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Practicality and Selfishness in Atlas Shrugged
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Atlas Shrugged is an account of a man's role as human and his relationship with society. The pinnacle of morality, as portrayed in this book, is the code detailed by John Galt. Galt is a central protagonist who proclaims that at the heart of true morality lies selfishness and rational practicality, a creed harkened to by select intellectuals who have made production and happiness their life's aim. The logical conclusion of Galt's code is a comparatively weak central government and laizzes faire capitalism. Opposing him is the moral code of the "looters", consisting of most other world leaders, who profess a code of altruism and mysticism. Their code is impotent to reach any logical conclusion.
The essential difference between Galt's philosophy and that of the looters is how they deal with the problems of reality. All looters refuse to honestly, rationally, and objectively assess reality, and they all depend on the producers for their sustenance. What the looters fail to realize is that morality and practicality are inseperable - one defines the other. They are two sides of the same coin: the objective reality propounded by Rand via the characters in Atlas Shrugged. That selfishness is practical is a rather straightforward conclusion. Man's desire to live is bred into him before birth. From the moment he draws his first breath, his first order of business becomes sustaining that breath. Yet life is not sustained merely by its own existence. Life is a rather complicated...
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